Now I Really Want It Finished...

Sahara try on
Originally uploaded by magicknits

I made the mistake of trying on Sahara this morning and man, does it fit like a glove! The measurements are perfect right now. I really want it to be finished now that I've tried it on. I still have two long sleeves and a neck edging and stitching to finish before it's wearable, but I think this very well may become one of my favorite sweaters. I like the fit so well that I am contemplating buying Labyrith from the same designer so that I can get another nice hourglass-shaped sweater under my belt. I'll probably pick up Wendy's book Custom Knits too so that I can make all my sweaters fit my odd measurements!

Today I didn't bring the sweater to work. It's just so big that it's hard to travel with it, so instead I brought dishcloth cotton to crochet a couple of cloths and a skein of the Shepherd Worsted to wind into a ball so that I can start the neck edging as soon as I hit the apartment, assuming I'm not so tired that I just crash and fall asleep. Today is one of my long days at work, so we'll see.

Knit on...

Sahara Progress Report

Sahara
Originally uploaded by magicknits

Here is the sweater after knitting all the hip increases last night. I should be done with the body of the sweater tonight and then can move on to the sleeves. I am hoping to get some spinning done tonight, so if I don't get the neck edging done on the sweater, I won't be too worried. I will be trying the thing on tonight though once I get the bottom diamond edge ribbing done. I'm rather excited.

Yeah, it doesn't take much, does it? :oP

Knit on...

Noro Socks

Noro Socks
Originally uploaded by magicknits

Well, I finished the Noro Socks yesterday and after wearing them today, I have to admit that they are one of the cushiest and nicest feeling pair of socks I own. No, they will not be replacing my Lorna's Laces by any means since that sock yarn is by far my favorite so far, but I think that if I am ever gifted more Noro, I will probably make another pair. It is thick and smooshy and I didn't have much of an issue with knots (only one) or sticks and twigs like other people have had. I made this a 56 stitch sock instead of a 64 stitch because the yarn is very thick compared to my normal go-to sock yarns. Still, it made for a very enjoyable pair of socks, even if the yarn was a little tough to work with. Up next: Sahara.

Knit on...

Some Days

Yeah, so for some reason my computer at work decided that it would be a great thing to run REALLY slow. Hopefully it was just for today, but everyone was having issues with their computers, so maybe someone managed to get a virus into the servers or something. I don't know much about viruses other than they suck and I really don't want them on my computer, be it work or not. So you're getting a late blog entry today until I see if I can blog easier from work tomorrow. Here's the state of the Noro sock as of this morning:I tried to make the socks match, but as is normal Noro for me, there was a knot tied in it, so the color changed a little quicker than it did on the first sock. That's all right though since I still enjoyed the color changes and knitting the sock. I have since finished it, but I'll leave that for tomorrow's blog post since I'll be wearing my nice, new, very warm silk garden socks tomorrow to work.

The kids have really enjoyed my socks. They see me knitting socks in the teacher's room when I don't have class and then look at my feet when I come to class to see if they remember me knitting those socks. It has become a sort of game with some of my third years as to what color socks Leah will be wearing today. Kinda cute actually.

And on one last side note, I was called a vampire yesterday my one of my students. I had straightened my hair and had on some darker lipstick than I normally wear since I'm now out of my normal shade, so I chalked it up to that. Well, today one girl goes, "Oh, teacher! Twilight! You look!" So, I'm guessing that straight, dark-red hair with dark lipstick means that I look like one of the characters out of twilight. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow and you all can decide for yourselves. I personally have not read the books or seen the movie, so I really have no clue.

Time to go knit some more on Sahara.

Knit on...

The Weekend

Sahara
Originally uploaded by magicknits

Ok, so post 3/3 for today. I'm really going to have to start blogging from home so that I can just go ahead and put all the pictures in one post, but I'm also lazy and mainly use my computer at home to watch DVDs and call people :oP Anyways, the weekend was good. I headed west to go visit DF and spend the weekend lazing around his apartment, finishing up the Nano book (I won, I won!), and knitting on Sahara until I ran out of yarn. I knew I should have brought another skein with me, but this gave me the chance to finish the Noro sock (see post below). I'm completely in love with the Sahara pattern and tonight I should get close, if not arrive at the short row shirttail shaping, so I'm quite excited about that!

Tonight Barbie and I are making a bunch of food. We decided that we wanted some good food this week, so we're going to both cook tonight and share the different foods. She's making homemade clam chowder and fried oysters and I'm making scalloped potatoes, and possibly chili if I can find some decent hamburger around here.

I'll let you know how the cooking spree goes!

Knit on...

One Sock Down...One to Go

Noro Sock
Originally uploaded by magicknits

I did manage to finish one of the Noro socks this weekend. I am actually already about 1/4 through the next one too, but stupid me forgot to take pictures of that one. Ah well. I like the color changes of the yarn, but I really do think that this will be my only pair of Noro socks. I'll use the rest of the sock yarn for scarves and other projects that can show off the color changes, although the feel of them is quite nice after trying on the first one. We'll see how they wear.

Knit on...

The Tree

Naju Tree
Originally uploaded by magicknits

My parents sent me a Christmas tree in the mail so that I would have at least a Charlie Brown tree to decorate my apartment. I had fun decorating it on Thanksgiving, as per my family tradition, and discovered only after decorating the whole thing that only half the string of lights work (it's a pre-lit tree). I did however buy more lights this weekend, so now I have a happy multi-colored twinkling tree decorating the tiny apartment!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Japan sea36
Originally uploaded by magicknits

It's pretty much over for America now. Last night I had a Thanksgiving dinner with some of the American native speakers in Naju and we had quite a feast. There were fried oysters, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, asparagus, green beans, and rice pudding with vanilla ice cream. All in all, it was a good time. After dinner, I decorated my Christmas tree that my parents mailed over to keep with the family tradition.

There has also been knitting, but I forgot to take pictures of it. Hopefully I'll have some decent pictures of a finished sock and other knits on Monday. Everyone have a great weekend!

PS: for those who are wondering, the random picture is from the Japan Sea when DF and I went this summer. I needed to use a picture for the blog feature to work on flickr :oP

Knit on...

And Here's Sahara

Sahara
Originally uploaded by magicknits

Part two of the blog post for today! Sahara is about to be joined for work in the round, so hopefully I'll make some more progress on that. I'm also hoping to get in some spinning tonight since the alpaca roving has been sitting out taunting me to do something with it. I am still in love with the Sahara pattern right now, so the two of them will have to battle it out for who will get the most time.

I did get some writing in today. I'm hoping to work some more on the book for the next two periods and then after my last class of the day so that I can be just that much closer to finishing the darned thing. Then I'll let it sit and try to edit it sometime in January. Fun times.

knit on...

The Sock Progress

Noro Sock
Originally uploaded by magicknits

Yep, I'm still blogging via flickr right now because blogger is still being banned at the school for some reason. At least flickr does allow me to blog, albeit with just one picture at the top. Anyways, here's the progress on the Noro sock. I have since turned the heel and am about to start working my way down the foot. The next post will have the Sahara progress!

Knit on...

And Here's Noro

101_2366
Originally uploaded by magicknits

And here's the Noro sock in progress. I'm working on it a little more today, but I really need to make myself write. I've fallen behind the past few days and since I only have five days left to finish this novel, I need to get cracking. I'm hoping to be very close to 50k by the end of the day today. I don't have much time between classes today, so instead of knitting a few rounds on the sock, I figure I can make myself type and get the word count flowing again!

Knit on...

Finished Ziggy

101_2372
Originally uploaded by magicknits

Well, the school has blocked blogger again from the computers, so until I get that fixed again, I'll be blogging from flickr or from home. I finished the Ziggy scarves this weekend. I ended up adding more length to the first one and then using the leftover yarn for the second one. I gave the two scarves to their recipients today at school and they are both modeling for everyone around here, so I take it to be a sign that they like them.

I also started the Noro sock yesterday and I'll have pictures of that in the next post since I haven't figured out how to get flickr to allow me to post multiple pictures into a single blog entry from their site. Oh well!

Knit on...

Stash Enhancement

My stash nearly tripled this weekend when DF brought back yarn I had ordered and that had been given as a gift to me. My stash was really quite low though...I only had two skeins of Lorna's Laces which I was saving for a desperate sock knitting moment and the rest of the skeins for Sahara and Donegal. Poor Donegal. The sweater is sitting in its box, hanging out because I've become obsessed with the Sahara sweater pattern now. Donegal will have her day again soon though. Anyways, here's what DF brought back:Six skeins of Lorna's Laces. That's Franklin's Panopticon, Amy's Vintage Office, and Mt. Something that I can't remember its name.Four skeins Malabrigo laceweight. Can you say dragon shawl?3 skeins Noro Silk Garden sock. One will become socks, but I have other plans for the remaining two.
Two bags of hand-dyed roving by Jessi. I also had two skeins of kitchen cotton, but forgot to take pictures of them, so imagine blue and yellow cotton here :oP

Knit on...

You Know It Was a Good Weekend...

When it involves the purchase of a sheep hat:More tomorrow...

Knit on...

Uh, Yeah...

So it snowed yesterday. I don't mean that it just flurried some, I mean that it dumped a nice white blanket all over the place:There's a good three inches on the ground as I write this and it's still peppering down, so who knows how much will accumulate.

I did knit some last night too. Here's Sahara:I'm almost to the front armhole shaping now, so it's growing quite steadily. I would have knit more last night but I had a headache from the blasted weather changing so suddenly.

I also have been crocheting at school when not writing:This is the Ziggy scarf pattern. It's a very easy crochet lace pattern, but it certainly flies. I should be done with this one by the end of the day since I don't have any classes to teach.

Hopefully there will also be some writing today! :oP

Knit on...

Sahara

Let me just say that I am in love with this pattern. It's very simple, but the construction is keeping my attention. This is my first top-down seamless sweater in the round, so it's some new stuff for me, which is always nice. I love the color of the Devon Shepherd Worsted, I love the feel of the yarn, and I love how well this pattern is written.

Here is the current state of the sweater after knitting 20 rows of the front tonight:I did write some more. If you'll notice, the word total is getting very close to the 50k mark. I'm really hoping to have this finished by the end of this week so that I can spend more time with Sahara and the stash. I've missed the stash. Good thing they had that intervention for me yesterday :oP

Knit on...

An Intervention

I spent most of this weekend writing, hoping to hit 40,000 words by the end of the weekend. I was at almost 39,000 when I realized I needed milk if I was going to eat cereal for breakfast in the morning, so I took a walk to the store. When I came back, this is what I saw:I was concerned because I had not placed the yarn there. In fact, I have been intentionally neglecting the yarn stash this month because of the novel. I also saw that my novel was no longer on the screen. I read the letter and this is what it said:I started to get very concerned. The stash was now talking to me. Had I really neglected knitting and fondling yarn for 15 days now? Was I in need of an intervention? Had my novel really taken over all my free time? I picked up the skein of yarn and pressed it against my face, feeling the uber softness that is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. I looked at the needles and the pattern and said what the hell. I'll knit for a little while and then get back to writing.Yeah, it's horribly curled up because of it being plain stockinette, but this is the back of the sweater to the armholes....yeah, no more writing was going to be taking place this weekend.

It's 10 PM here, so it's pretty much my set bedtime here, but I can't...put...the...sweater...down...

I'm back!

Knit on...

PS: I intend to be close to finished if not completely finished with the novel by the end of this week. I can't travel with the sweater, so work time will be writing time. Don't worry, the novel is not going to be neglected :oP

This is a Knitting Blog!

Look, before I go any further:Knitting. There, I proved that I do actually knit. This is the feather and fan scarf of abandon. I call it this because I started it, thinking it would be nice and easy to work on while nano-ing, but no. I abandoned it, threw it aside as the writing muses took over and forced me to be a slave to the computer as the words just seemed to flow. Yesterday I had the day off work, so I knit some, albeit still not very much. I was more interested in cooking two huge pots of vegetable soup and freezing one. Now I'll have some nice, hot soup for dinners now that the weather has turned pretty cool.

Maybe I'll knit some this weekend too. Of course I'm at almost 35,000 words too, so maybe I'll just see how many more I can crank out and just how close I can get to the story's end.

We'll see :oP

Knit on...

I Will Knit

I want it to be known that tonight and tomorrow I will knit. My fingers are twitching involuntarily now and the book is about half way done. Plus I just found out that I get a day off work tomorrow. So help me God, I will knit tonight!

Anyways, here's the current stats:

Words: will be at 32,000 before I leave school
Chapters: 14
Favorite line in Chapter 14: Several wrong turns, some strong cursing, and two hours and a purchased map later, the unlikely group arrived at the city limits of Baysan.

Tomorrow...knitting...must...knit...

Knit on

Uh, What Knitting Pictures?

Uh, did I promise pictures of knitting yesterday? Clearly my mind if warped from this novel writing thing. I would take pictures of the knitting normally, if my mind wasn't thinking about weaknesses of certain main characters and how a certain bad guy is going to exploit those. I would normally knit if my head wasn't churning out plot ideas on how my main character is going to save his friend.

So instead, I give you more novel info! I do solemnly swear that this blog will go back to its usual pictures and knitting content once the novel is finished. I intend to let it sit for at least a few weeks before I go through and read all the craptapulous stuff that I have now written.

Word Count: 28,000ish
Chapters: 12
Character Deaths: 1
Flashbacks: 2
Near Death Experiences: more than I care to count.
Favorite line from chapter 12: Being almost killed in uncountable ways in the course of forty eight hours really puts things in perspective, he thought as he ate the piece of tasteless bread.

Knit on...