/hibernation

I have been extremely lax in my blogging these last several months. You know how it goes: Busy doing fun things. Not organized enough to put photos on Flickr. No photos = no writing about fun things. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I shall attempt to remedy that this weekend by doing a massive upload of photos. I’ll be doing them in installments, starting with last August.

It’s March. Pretty soon we will have ploughed through a quarter of the year. What have I been up to this year? What’s coming up? Hey, look! A list!

1. Coming up on Friday, I have a phone interview for a Project Archivist position at an area library. The lovely folks at MIT have offered to do a mock interview with me on Thursday to help me prep. I’ve also expanded my job search to include positions back in the DC/Baltimore area.
2. I had a whirlwind trip to Maryland and Florida last week. I left Boston for Baltimore on the 20th, caught the Riveters/CCRG bout, spent several days among friends and family in Maryland (met the BFF’s girlfriend, she’s rad), left for Florida on the 24th, spent a few days on the Gulf Coast with my seester and JeT’s dad enjoying the 80 degree weather, caught a Red Sox spring training game, then landed in Boston just as the snow began to fall Sunday morning. It was a bit of a wild week: one morning I woke up to broken glasses and raw patches on my hands and face. I try to tell people that the raw skin was due to extremely dry skin, and the glasses were on their way out anyway. There are some, however, who refuse to believe this and assert that I must have been in a bar fight.
3. I now have new glasses. They are red. And shaped rather like my pair-before-last, slightly cat-eye. Did I mention they are red? And awesome? Yes.
4. PRD is gearing up for the 2009 season. Our last batch of newbies joined in January, and there are only a couple left who haven’t yet passed their assessments to claim their name. This is really exciting! It’s going to be a fantastic season! I shall be continuing as the Rookie Wrangler, and I’ll also be taking on the job of League Archivist. I’m also going to be playing in two away games. In Canada! Also, PRD is playing host to several travel teams this year. The first Riveters home bout is against Harrisburg Area Roller Derby (HARD) on April 11 at the RICC. The Killah Bees are hosting the Skate Free or Die girls at a scrimmage next weekend, and then we play them at a NH bout in April. I’m not going to be playing in that one, though, as I’ll be playing in Ottowa the following week. It’s going to be a derby-filled summer, indeed. (Check www.providencerollerderby.com regularly for the most recent updates.)
5. I haven’t been very crafty though. I did finally finish my SIL’s hat and scarf, delivered only two months late. The BFF has a birthday coming up and I’m working on something for him. I started a hyperbolic plane in blue and white cotton, which was supposed to be a bath pouf. I ran out of the white, half way through the last round. I might just knot it off and call it done, though, since the whole reason for making it was to do a bit of stash busting. I also have to make another Jayne hat for myself, since I lost the one I made last Fall. Once I actually get going on something, I’ll feel better.
6. I have severely neglected my pen pals these last several months. The end of the derby season in September ate up all my time, and then it was fall, and then winter, and now here it is nearly spring and some of them haven’t heard from me in ages. It’s not due to lack of caring, but rather to severe lack of organization. I just need to cart around my little notebook of writing supplies, then I can write while I commute, just like old times.
7. Saw They Might Be Giants a while ago. They were super great, as usual. They played so many songs! And many many were ones I’d never heard them play before, or hadn’t heard in a long while. We made some concert friends, which was fun.
8. We have a new car: a 2008 Kia Sportage, silvery grey. It’s awesome. We can accelerate. Uphill! And it’s big enough to fit my legs! And passengers!
9. Though I have been bringing my lunch to work nearly every day (thanks to JeT who actually prepares and packs the food), I miss bringing super fun bentos. I shall endeavor to remedy this. We’ve been making some new foods, though, so we’re slowly edging out of our food rut, which I’m very happy about. More new foods to come, and of course bento photos!
10. I’ve recently discovered Wild Turkey’s American Honey. If you’re a fan of whiskey or bourbon, you need to try this. Even if you normally hate the stuff, you need to try this. It’s golden awesomeness in a bottle. Highly recommended.
11. Speaking of imbibing, my librarian friends and I came up with a blog idea to help us broaden our beer horizons. We plan to sample a different kind of beer each month, and report our findings on the blog. We’re still thinking of a name, though. I was all ready to go in January, and then I sort of just forgot about it. This should be quite fun, once we get going!
12. I would like to go bowling. And ice skating. And just go out more often. Maybe stay in town for a bit on Fridays or something. I just need to get my act together and play cruise director, I think. I’ve just been so disorganized; I haven’t felt like myself for months and months. I think I’m finally coming out of my stupor, though. I think the sunshine did me some good. I’ll work on my schedule this weekend, and will start planning some outings. I wonder where my planner is… probably under the laundry somewhere.
13. First outing: This Friday, March 6th! Watchmen! Who’s in? JeT and I are going to see it in Boston (on the Common). We’re buying our tix tonight, if anyone’s interested.
14. And then there are a couple of concerts coming up: OK Go! and The Pogues! So excited!

I can has short rows?

O HAI!

Thanks to all who came to the Winter Super Fun Times gathering on Saturday! Click through to see our poor sampling of photos from the event. Click here for way better pictures from SEA, though I think you have to be one of her contacts to see them. Which is fine by me, since I got one of my, shall we say, “party whims,” and decided it would be great fun to knit a merkin. Many modeled the blue, fuzzy thing and SEA captured the action. (All merkin photos are clean, don’t worry.)

I had wanted everyone’s Decemberween presents to be done by Saturday, but that did not happen. I can’t knit on the train anymore, because I take a later train, which is way crowded, and I get all cramped trying to avoid elbowing the person next to me. So, evenings are my only knitting time these days. I kept getting terrible headaches in the evenings the week before the party, so I ran out of knitting time. Finishing the larger items (which shall remain slightly secret, since there is at least one who may read this that still does not know what they are) was impossible, so I decided to just work on the smaller items. But I needed at least 15 of those, and only managed 7. Therefore, only a few party guests got their party favor nose warmer. Alas.

I have decided that one of my knitterly resolutions for this year is to knit things that teach me new skills. For too long have my knitting skills been stagnant. I decided that the first things I would learn would be short rows. I know, I know, I’ve been knitting since I was 13 and I still need to learn short rows? Yes. Well, not really anymore, since I had to learn to do them for the nose warmers. They are essentially the toe of a toe-up sock, with crochet chain ties to secure behind the head. The instructions I used (for sock toes) were pretty good, except they left out certain important elements, such as which side of the work the yarn needs to be on for certain actions. Or rather, it kept leaving out the instruction to put the yarn back after having moved it. I find it very hard to learn new skills from written instructions because there are too many gaps. Without a real person sitting next to me filling in the gaps in instructions, I’m at a loss.

Anyway, after much trial and error, and tears, and ripping the darn things out again, it was midnight on Friday, the night before the day they were supposed to be gifts, and I still hadn’t got it right. I went to bed annoyed, but in the wee hours I had a knitterly epiphany, and as soon as I picked up the stupid thing the next morning, it started to click. I finally had the thrill of learning something new, and stopped swearing at the instructions (and the yarn, and the needles, and myself), and was able to whip them out at a pretty good pace (25 minutes each, including weaving in ends). Now I just have to finish the rest of them, and pop them in the post. Who wouldn’t love to get a nose warmer in their mailbox, right? I do need to figure out who got one and who didn’t, though.

It snowed Monday, and Radcliffe was closed, so I got to finish several things and pop a few in the post, which was rad. Unfortunately, I got sick that day, and then stayed home most of the week. It was a killer cold with a stupid fever and stuff. I had a really long, one day work week. And Monday is a holiday, too. I feel like a bum. But a well rested bum.

We’re going to see Cloverfield tonight. JeT has been following the marketing/hype/propaganda for this film for months, so we’re wicked excited to actually see the darned thing. I’m just excited to get out to see a movie. We don’t get out very often. And tomorrow, I’m going on a shopping spree with other people’s money. I’ve been amassing a fairly large collection of gift cards these last few months, and I’m going to spend them all in one day. A movie and shopping? Super fun consumer times, woot! There will also be a trip to Kam Man market tomorrow for some bento supplies. Hooray!

Happy New Year!

Right, so I tried to post on January first, but our network did not feel like speaking to the outside world that day. We had a very boring New Year’s, indeed. JeT had to work on the Eve and the Day, so we hadn’t planned on partying too wildly anyway. When he got home from work on the Eve and found me still in my jammies, it was rather obvious that I didn’t particularly want to go out. I hadn’t felt well all day, and so we fell asleep around 11:30 pm. Woke up around 1-ish, said “happy new yrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.” The next day I still didn’t feel well. Kind of like when you’re about to get a cold and your head weighs too much and all you need is a dozen or so more hours of sleep. Most of my family had been ill over the last few weeks, and I was exposed to all their germiness while visiting, so I was prepared to be sick. But when I woke up Wednesday, all was well. Thank goodness I’m not starting out the year ill.

Or starting my new job ill. That would be doubly worse. So, I’m now an assistant at Radcliffe and MIT. Woot! I’m now properly poised to conduct a proper job search, while still being able to pay some bills. I’m feeling optimistic at the start, though I haven’t done much leg work yet. I’m enjoying both of my part-time jobs thus far. I’ve been at Radcliffe since October, and only just started at MIT this week. Regarding the latter, I’d like to say that nuclear physicists have an interesting sense of humor. I also find it amusing that Oppenheimer’s friends called him “Oppie.”

I haven’t been knitting as much as I’d wanted to these last couple of weeks. I’ve mostly been sleeping, watching movies, and generally staring into space. I have much to knit before the belated Christmas gifts are going to be done, so I should get cracking. Especially since they’re supposed to be handed over in one week exactly. Right, maybe I should get off the computer.

Merry Decemberween!

Merry Decemberween!

I know it’s almost over, but I hope everyone’s December festivities have been super wonderful. We’re down at my folk’s house in MD for the week and having a great time. Christmas was super fun. I love watching the kids open presents. Since there are only two kids in the family at the moment, everyone was putting the pressure on for JeT and I to contribute to the younger population so that there’ll be more kids to watch on Christmas morning. Yeah, probably not anytime soon. Though woo hoo for all the friends who have announced their expected little ones! (You’ve all been busy: there were two baby announcements and one engagement! Hooray!)

I’ve finally uploaded photos from the last couple of months. Geez, we were wicked busy, weren’t we? There are photos from Thanksgiving with friends, the Fancy Schmancy Dancy Birthiversary Party, the Hooray for Repeal Day Party with librarians, the Ugly Sweater Party, snow, birthday, and Christmas. It’s been crazy-fun. There are also pictures of recent crafty projects: felted bags, and a doll of The Dude (from The Big Lebowski). And cupcakes. Yum!

See you all in the New Year!

Rhinebeck

rainbow roving

(Or is that Yarnbeck? Eh, Abby?)

Well, I survived my first Rhinebeck (aka, the New York Sheep and Wool Festival). I caught the Yarn Safaris bus at Riverside T stop in Newton at 7:30 am (well, I got there around 7 because I was afraid of being late). The rest of the knitters (and spinners, and crocheters) piled on the bus and we were off – a bit late, but not too bad. Abby got there a few minutes after I did. I’d been looking forward to this day not just for the wool, but to catch up, too. We chatted the whole ride there, the whole day, and the whole ride back. (My cough came back with a vengeance, but it was so much fun.) The ride to New York was beautiful. The skies were blue, the trees were gold, red, and orange. We peeped our fair share of leaves all the way there. I also started a scarf on the trip out: grey wool (Patons Classic Merino), skinny-ish, with a single cable. On the way home, I think I may have decided that it would make an awesome sleeve for a floppy sweater.

We were all anxious to get inside and start our day at the festival. (Trying our best to avoid the woman who complained the whole ride there, and while we were waiting to get in.) They ran out of maps at the front gate, but we soon found an information booth (that was cleverly not anywhere near the entrance) where we picked up a couple of programs that had a map of the grounds. I was really overwhelmed at first. But we just jumped right in.

We spent a fairly long time in “Building A,” where I bought all of my goods in this order: glass buttons, wool covered soap, lace yarn, Shetland roving, and Socks that Rock yarn. You’ll notice that I didn’t actually buy all that much yarn. I didn’t want to buy too much that I didn’t have a plan for. And I was too overwhelmed to plan on the fly. If they’d had any kits that sprung out at me, I might have bought more yarn. (Click through above to see photos of my swag.)

We walked and walked, and everywhere we were surrounded by fiber. It was amazing. My camera crapped out on me after only a few pictures, and I didn’t have any rechargables. I’d brought some alkalines, but didn’t feel like using them, because I knew I’d only get a few more photos out of those. So I just depended on Abby‘s camera all day. (She’ll be guest blogging at Spinstah‘s blog soon; I’ll update when the post is up.) We were surrounded by gorgeous yarn, fluffy roving, and fun animals. We walked through several barns, pet some sheep, llamas, and alpacas. After a few hours we were so overstimulated, we could barely take any more in. The colors! The fluff! The sheepies! The wine tasting! (Yes, wine. I think Abby bought more in wine and food than yarn. Girl’s got her priorities, you know.) We just had so much fun. I should also mention that we chatted a little bit with a very nice Rockies fan, who noticed us by my Green Monstah shirt. That was wicked cool.

I was doing pretty good by this point. I hadn’t spent too much money, and was really quite satisfied with my first Rhinebeck. But something told me I should go back to the first building we were in and go play with the spinning wheels. I had taken a flier from The Merlin Tree earlier in the day so I’d be able to do more research when I got home. But I just had to try out a wheel before I left. When I got there, there was a woman spinning. Not one of the owners, mind you, but another fiber fan: Elisa (gosh, I hope that’s her name- I couldn’t find her online, but she was wearing a Ravelry button) was spinning away. I asked her a few questions about the wheel she was spinning on (The Hitchhiker): Was it a good first wheel, how do you like it, etc. She recommended that I try out the Ashford Kiwi that was sitting next to her. She set me up, and then one of the owners came over to give me a hand. Before long, I was spinning away. I’d never spun on a wheel before, and it was pure magic. Abby woke me from my reverie (goodness knows how long I’d been spinning), and could tell that I was totally smitten. I asked several questions about the wheel, but a short while later I’d placed a deposit on my very own Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel.

I was giddy for the rest of the day. We’d be walking through some other barn, looking at the cute sheepies, and I’d be like, “Hey Abby. I bought a spinning wheel.” I did not, however, spend the most money that day, even though I’d bought a wheel. (That honor would go to the abovementioned complaining lady. Oh, well.) There was even one person who bought only food that day, and wasn’t influenced by the wool fumes at all. That shows some pretty fierce resistance. I mean, if you’re a fiber fan, and you’re surrounded by thousands of enablers, it’s a complete miracle that you’d leave that place with no wool at all. The ride home was fun, too, though my cough was getting pretty bad (I hope I didn’t annoy everyone on the bus).

We couldn’t listen to the game on the bus (out of range of any good station) and so depended on text messages from friends to get us through. (This post was written during game 7 – Go SOX!!! See you Wednesday, Rockies!) JeT and I stayed up to watch the game, and then I promptly passed right out. In my wool-drunk haze, I only vaguely realized that my Knit Picks order had come in.

It was a wild and wooly day, indeed.

MJ slippers again

I just noticed that my non-blah, blah, blahg pages are not linked on the main page. The template I installed aeons ago does not include those pages. Hmm. I’ll have to go into the files and put that in. But I’m lazy, and this is easier for the time being:

Here is a link to the page that has a link to the PDF of the pattern.

Woo! My first pattern actually written down!

remember that list?

rusty orange hat

I have only completed a couple of things off of that list from the other day. I wanted to make two skirts and an apron, but only got one skirt done. I did, however, finish M’s book. (And repaired it.) It is now wrapped and ready to hand over to her on Saturday, hooray! (Along with the last of the dish rags, which I’m sure she’s happy to see the end of.)

I’ve also finished the not-so-fun stuff that I was supposed to do (school stuff, mostly). I’ve gotten a couple more projects done that were not on that list (see previous post.)

Christmas knitting is now in full swing. For obvious reasons, I’m not going to post any details regarding presents for people who actually read this thing. Though, I might be surprised, I’m pretty sure my family doesn’t read it. (Hi Mom and Dad! Just in case.)

The hat above is going to be for one of my brothers. Here it is modeled by JeT. I tried it on, and it fits me just fine. I come from a large-headed family, so if it fits me, I’m sure it will fit my brother. For hat details, click through to Flickr.

I’ve got a chart with all the presents I need to make between now and Christmas. If I didn’t get the planning done before school started, I wouldn’t be able to stick to any sort of schedule. I’ve picked mostly really easy stuff to make, which is perfect for the trains. Anything a bit trickier (or larger) will be my at home knitting.

Interesting post, yes? I thought so.

A crafty weekend

Arrrrrrgh

This weekend was quite fun. And productive. I love it when a plan comes together.

Throughout the entire weekend, I finished M’s bridal shower keepsake book, pictured here. I think it came out quite well. I have to do one repair on it, and let that set, before I can pop it in the post to be sent to its proper owner. I think she will like it.

Click through for more photos of the book, and for photos of all the other stuff (crafty or otherwise) that we did this weekend. The photos have all the crafty details, etc.

Friday evening, MO came over to watch LOTR with JeT and I. During that time, I finished the yellow skirt that I had been planning for ages. (I never did get around to making the green one, nor the apron, that I had wanted to make this weekend, but oh well. Sewing always takes longer than I anticipate.) After I finished (and modeled) the skirt, I worked on the knitted bonnet. I finished the head portion that evening.

Saturday morning was absolutely perfect. I love waking up to crisp, clear, blue skies, and slightly chilly. A little taste of autumn to come. We packed leftovers and went to Massasoit State Park for a picnic and a lovely walk. It took us a while to actually find a trail, because the trails don’t really match what’s on the map. They sort of do, but it’s the difference between the trail going behind campsites, as they appear on the map, or going through campsites (with people camping in them), which was the reality. After several apologies, we found a trail whose relationship with the one depicted in the map was fairly consistent. It was a fun afternoon, though.

That evening, we had a couple of friends over (MO and Rrrrr) for brownie icecream sundaes and a fire. It was quite unplanned, hence only two friends were able to attend, but fun nonetheless. I love building fires. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Luckily for me (and everyone around me) I have a stable enough personality that my fire love doesn’t tend toward the criminal. Pyrophiliac? Is that a word?

On Sunday we had another not-so-secret-anymore meeting to finish the post-wedding gift for M and the Bohninator. We got off to a slow start, so I was able to finish the neck portion of the bonnet, as well as one of the I cords. We have our next meeting tonight, and hopefully that will go more smoothly, now that we kind of know what we want to do. Sunday night I finished the other I cord, and did all the finishing work for the bonnet. I didn’t bother washing and blocking it, though.

I’ve made a list of all the stuff I have to make for Christmas this year. It’s really long. And there are only 18 weeks until Christmas. (Don’t panic.) By my calculations I have to finish at least one or two items each week to make the deadline. And that’s not even calculating shipping times. EEK! Next year, I’m starting in May.

Not quite the plan

MJs on my feet

Hey, remember when I said I wasn’t going to do anything else (besides the dishcloths) until I’d sorted out my hibernating projects? Yeah, well, um, so I went to visit a friend the other day, and she had this pattern, see, and then we found ourselves at the craft store, and then before I knew it I was buying yarn and needles for a project I didn’t even know I wanted to knit. And there you go. Lovely little Mary Jane slippers to pad around the house in (when it gets cooler). I have a stripey pair that a friend gave me ages ago, but I’ve always wanted to make a pair (or several) so that I wouldn’t be heart broken when those inevitably wear out.

I had to re-write the pattern myself, since the pattern she downloaded had so many mistakes. I think it may have been a combination of a couple of mistakes combined with my misunderstanding of some of the pattern directions. In the end it was easier and faster to just do the whole thing myself. I didn’t like a couple of the choices the pattern writer had made, and so did things my way.

The sole and the upper are knit separately, then pieced together, and the strap is knit from picking up stitches on one side and grafting them onto the other. It’s pretty straight forward. Whenever I’m making something that has to be pieced together, I slip the first stitch of every row, which gives you a lovely chain selvedge. It is also helpful on exposed edges, because you get a nice clean line of chain stitches around the edge of the piece.

One was pieced together using Kitchener Stitch mattress stitch to make the seams, wrong sides together. The other was piece together with a crochet chain stitch, right sides together. The former looks better on the sides of the slipper, but neither method looks nice at the toe and heel, where the increases and decreases make seaming a little uneven looking. The latter, however, is much faster. Since these aren’t really “show off” pieces, I think I’d opt for the crochet seams over the sewn seams any day.
These don’t really match, because I was experimenting with the pattern as I went along. I must have knit and reknit the pieces so many times as I modified the pattern. If I had just knit them in one go, I think this project would have taken about 5 hours to complete, and that’s being quite generous with the time. A great weekend project.

Knit on size 7/4.5mm needles, I used Patons Classic Wool in grey. Cheap and soft.

“You can’t knit for crack hos!”

The quote of the evening, indeed.

Thursday I went to see the Yarn Harlot speak at the Burlington, MA Borders. It was a fun evening: I met up with The Spinstah and Andrea in Somerville, and Andrea drove us in her delightfully air conditioned vehicle to Borders (eventually, but we got there in plenty of time). There was a great turnout. Underpants were thrown. (Seriously.) I started another ball band dishcloth for Missy. Good times. Stephanie gave pretty much the same talk as at Webs in May, but with some fun additions. We learned all about Kinnearing, for example. There were many young knitters in attendance, as well as many more male knitters than I had seen at previous knitting events, which was super awesome. I saw Jess and Casey of Ravelry, but they were surrounded by their own group of fans, and I was too shy to go say hi. I do covet a “Where my stitches at?” button, though. After the talk, we (eventually) made it back to Davis Square and had a nice meal at a diner. A lovely evening with friends.

I’ve been having so much fun on Ravelry looking at patterns, checking out the groups, reading about people’s projects, all sorts of stuff. It’s such a great site, and I haven’t even explored it fully yet. I’ve got a few things in my queue to look forward to, and several hibernating projects to deal with. My goal for the rest of the summer is to deal with the hibernators and then pick out one project from the queue to work on next and start planning for that. I’m a one project at a time kind of knitter, who just happens to have several on the needles at once. I can’t work on several things all at once. If I don’t focus, nothing gets done. I’m a pretty fast knitter/crocheter so there’s really no reason to have stalled on so many projects.

I hate August, but I do love that feeling of organization that comes before the start of term. (My last semester! Yeah! Woo!)