Quick Meme

I  have some more updates and things to post but I got tagged in an little Q and A meme by iknit2purl2 earlier this week on Twitter. Since I'm in the middle of a dye session (and taking a break for dinner), I thought I'd do a quick post for now.

1. What's your staple meal (ie what meal do you cook most often when you can't be bothered to be adventurous)?

Beef and Rice. It's so easy and every time I make it I forget how good it is and how much I like it. Recipe follows:


Cook 2 oz. of lean meat and 1-2 tablespoons of mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of oil. Make a cup of brown rice as directed on the package. Place rice and 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in a bowl. Mix meat and mushrooms in with rice and sauce. So easy and sooooo yummy. (Note: This makes one serving. Double or triple as needed)


2. What do you want to be when you grow up?

An indie dyer. I'd also like to run a non-profit and hopefully one day I'll be a mom and devoted wife as well :)

3. What books are you reading at the moment?

David Sedaris's When You Are Engulfed in Flames

4. How do you relax?

Knitting. Taking a long bubble bath and reading a magazine. Having a tipple and watching Family Guy or some Brit-coms.

5. What color are the interior walls of your home?

All the walls except my kitchen and bathroom are standard issue apartment white. The kitchen is standard issue apartment tan and the bathroom has wallpaper with little jewel toned crests on it (also standard issue).

6. What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Chocolate Devotion ice cream from Cold Stone and Lady Gaga dance tunes (though not necessarily together).

7. What time is bedtime and getting up time?

If I have something to get up for then bedtime is between 10:30 and 11 p.m. If not then it's usually between midnight and 2 a.m. During the school year I get up around 6:30 to go to work and during the summer (or if I don't have somewhere to go) then it's usually between 9 and 10 a.m.

8. How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?

I spend about 2 hours reading blogs 3-4 times a week. I will admit that I check Facebook and Twitter excessively when I'm at home.

I'm tagging @KnittingKnoobie, @KraftyKash, and @wendyhoomo.

Doh!

Have you ever done something while knitting and, as soon as you did it, thought, This just isn't right. I had such a moment tonight. Even while it was happening it just seemed a little...off. And after I did it, it was confirmed (thankfully only by me), I hadn't done what I had intended to do. After working for many weeks on the fair isle sweater I finally bound off the stitches for the neck and shoulders.

And made the neck opening large enough for an ant. See how disproportionate it is in the picture? Some of that may be from the angle but not all of it. And, after looking at the sweater all laid out, I think it might be too small. It's supposed to be for a 6 year old and it looks more like it would fit a 3 year old. Which probably means I took the chest measurement and instead of doubling it to get the total body measurement I probably figured gauge for that number (which would be half of what I really needed). Still with me? What it equals is one big mess. And I'm without the heart to fix it. Tomorrow (maybe after a good stiff drink) I'll measure the chest and see if that's right. Then I'll rip out should seams and frog back to the row that I bound off the front neck stitches. Then I can re-knit binding off less stitches. And if the chest isn't right? Well, luckily there are still some younger kids who need sweaters this winter.

New Obsession

After finishing the 1st Rivulets sock I spent last Thursday night helping some friends with their knitting projects and teaching another friend to knit (that makes 5 or 6 people I've taught in the last year to knit, and all around my age too!). Friday though, well, Friday I got bit by a strange new obsession. And it's all I've been able to knit on for the past 5 days. When I finish it I feel I may collapse somewhere in my apartment like one of those marathon runners who pushes themselves to the point of exhaustion as they stumbling across the finish line practically in tears. The source of my obsession? The Skew sock.

Yes, that funky looking piece of fabric is a sock. And I loves it. When first beginning to knit said sock it looked much more like a banana koozie than a sock.

So, I have aptly named these The Ron Weasley Knitted Banana Holders. Why Ron Weasley?

Because the yarn is the (now legendary) Opal Harry Potter sock yarn in colorway Ron Weasley. Ron, if you need a warm banana I got just the thing for you.

Yes, I realize the preceding paragraphs were fraught with sexual innuendo. Why else do you think I posted them?

Eh, hum...as I was saying...knitting and what not.

So, I have about an inch of ribbing (for her pleasure...sorry couldn't resist!) left to go on the sock. I'll probably cast on for the second one but I don't plan to finish these in the next week or anything. Despite the quick progress on the first sock I do have other things to knit. I will say that I adore this pattern because it is always something new. I thing I've determined that miles of endless stockinette and garter stitch are not my cup of tea. Small items, like kids clothes, I can handle, but for something I'm knitting on that will take a substantial portion of my time I need some change. Even in my sock knitting it seems.

As I mentioned, before I started the Skew sock I did have a knit night and while I taught/helped everyone I did manage to start the second sleeve of the fair isle sweater.

I even managed to locate the issue of Interweave Knits I needed with instructions on how to finish this so (seeing as how this is a child's sized garment) not too much left to do on this one. This sweater is for the EEROP/Project Hope campaign. I just started a fun new contest over on the group so be sure to check it out. Especially if you like knitting prayer shawls or kid's clothes. I'll post more about that here later in the week.

In non knitting news my apartment is slowly but surely turning into this:

A big pile of boxes. The time has come for me to move on up to a bigger place. I've put in an application for a 2 bedroom apartment in a nice area of town. It will make my commute to work a good deal longer but I've been spoiled with 10-15 minute commutes for the last 5 years so I think I can cope. The trade off is a bigger space in a nicer part of the county. And it is still relatively close to my church and job. The move and preparation for moving may make posting a little sporadic for awhile but don't worry, when I'm procrastinating from packing I'll be knitting :)

Of Socks and Sweaters

I'm back from vacation and, while I should be well rested, for some reason this morning I'm completely wiped out. I have stuff that needs doing (doesn't that always seem the case) but I may need a nap before I can think about tackling any of it. Is it wrong to need a nap just 2 hours after you get up? Anyways...before I could allow myself to do anything truly productive this morning I had to finish this sock:

The first Rivulet's sock is finished!

I started this sock in May of 2009, over a year ago. I like the yarn, I like the pattern, I do not like the needles (US size 0). When I started these socks I had not knit many socks using true sock yarn so I just went with the needles the pattern told me to use without a second thought to try and substitute. Just looking at this yarn now I would say they need a size 2 or 3 needle to get a comfortable gauge. Bugga (the sock yarn used in this project) is a little on the thick side and using size 0s did not a comfortable knitting experience make. That's why I've been so reluctant to finish these. I had told myself I needed to finish this pair before I could make any more socks but I'm thinking that in order to maintain my sanity for sock #2 I might need to try a Skew sock (or two) first.

Lucky for me I have another project this is coming along quite nicely that I've been using to distract myself from uncomfortable sock knitting.

This is the fair isle sweater I've designed. This is for EEROP's summer knitting focus, Project Hope. I love how it's turning out! And kid's stuff is (to me anyways) a quick knit because of the miniature size. All I need is to finish the second sleeve and find my Fall and Winter issues of Vogue Knitting where Jared Flood talks about making any pattern into a seamless yoked sweater. Then it's just joining and finishing the top!

April/May KAL Wrap Up

Last Thursday I sent off the hats and scarves I'd made/collected for the Children's Emergency Relief International (CERI). CERI was the chosen charity for the April/May KAL for the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project on Ravelry. CERI delivers hats and scarves to orphans every winter. The kids get to pick out a handmade item all their own. Many of the members of the group participated in making the Road Scarf (a free download from Lion Brand yarn). They all turned out great! I had collected quite a few other scarves and hats over the months (years) so I threw them into my box of contributions as well.

My Road Scarf and the Ant Egg scarf.

Two old scarves I'd made. A plain garter stitch scarf and (I think) a double knit scarf. I made them a long time ago so I can't really remember the all the details of their making.

A faggot stitch scarf and a fuzzy garter stitch boa scarf. Again, made a long time ago. The boa may have been the second or third scarf I'd ever made.

A faggot stitch hat that I made to go with the scarf.

A simple orange hat based off the Turn a Square hat that I made during the Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival.

A cabled hat. Also whipped up during the Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival weekend.

The Hat From Hell. Worn once (I washed it before I sent it off). It was a pain to knit and pain to wear. The yarn was a booger to use because it was a tangled mess. The hat was a pain to wear because I made it too big for my head so it was constantly slipping off. I'm hoping it finds a good home with someone who has an even bigger head than I do.

I also threw in these hats. I'd originally made them for a blogger friend (Helen) who was trying to gather 100+ hats for a school in NY. Unfortunately these didn't make it to her in time and got returned to me. They're on their way to a nice new home now.

So, in total 6 scarves and 6 hats. The large priority box from the post office was stuffed! I'm equally as excited about the upcoming June-September KALs as I am about the last one. The next charity we decided to support was Project Hope. Project Hope is working to stop child abandonment in Romania by providing support to families. One of the ways they help is a Christmas collection for mothers and children. The KALs for the summer and early fall will focus on projects that can be donated to Project Hope (socks, hats, mittens, and sweaters). I've already started designing/knitting a fair isle sweater for a little boy.

Actually a lot more has been knit but this is the only picture I have.

Penelope was trying to help me one night. I should be able to get a lot done on the sweater this week because I'm on vacation at the beach! When I'm not sunning myself that is ;)