Overcoming Great Adversity

Despite my cute cat trying to eat the yarn all through this project...

Strange short row wrap and turn that took me an hour to figure out (counting the ripping and reknitting)...

Getting up every four hours to change the I Love Lucy disc...

I finished it...

I adjusted this pattern a lot...because the original was weird...

And now it's filled and under the tree waiting for Scott.

Pictures

They all loved their lil ornaments:

Poetic Holiday Cleaning (if only)

Well, I woke up really early thinking I was running late and now I have time for tea and blogging. Yay! I've been crafting up a storm -- sort of. I made gifts for my co-workers (which I will post a picture of after they get their gifts today). And I was feeling rather ambitious and started making a Christmas stocking for my brother. Not that he needs a Christmas stocking. I'm fairly certain my mother purchased about five every other year. We may have left a lot of them in the Frankfort house, but I imagine there are plenty hiding away in a box somewhere in Northern Wisconsin. But it seemed like a good idea at the time.

This week is fairly awesome so far...in that we have shortened hours at work. Don't get me wrong...I love my job, but I get to go in at 9am and leave at 3pm. How lovely! I have a lot of work to do while the residential students are away. I'm also trying to think of an article topic so I get get published sometime soon. That would really bump up my resume. But I don't feel qualified...I've been a student so long. I'm finding the transition to professional rather bumpy.

Maybe that's why I signed up for a class next semester. I decided to take an advanced poetry workshop because I really want to get back into writing. I kind of stopped after my mom died with a few poetic exceptions here and there. Writing has always been a comfort to me, and it may help with the processing of my grief for my dad. Both of my parents actually. So we'll see. I thought about taking a computer class because there are two or three that might help in my goal of getting an IT degree. I'm learning that a lot of my job requires technology...which I knew...and I thought I was fairly tech-savvy. And I am compared to some people, but I could be a lot better if I understood more about how information technology worked. My only hesitation is that I'm not an analytical type person...I'm not good at understanding complex mechanisms. Or maybe I am...I just never gave myself the chance? I figure a few (free!) computer classes at least will help me approach all this technology a bit better. I'll stick with poetry this semester and work on computers next fall.

For the next few days, it's going to be busy busy as I clean my apartment (which desperately needs cleaning) and prepare for Scott's visit. He's coming down Christmas Eve so hopefully I'll have everything cleared up before he gets here. One of my goals was to finish decorating my apartment by the time he came for Christmas and I've only hung one picture so far. I need to buy more picture hanger thingers. We'll see how far I get. I'll update this post later to show you the cute lil Christmas gifts I made for my co-workers. And maybe the beginning of Scott's stocking. Maybe.

Until then.

Something Productive

Okay, I'd like to point out that I'm anything but original. Jen started up her knitting blog again and made into a spinning/knitting blog because she's just that caliber of awesome. I'm not. But since she revitalized her blog, I figured I should follow in her footsteps and do the same. What can I say? She inspires me.

I'm not sure why I stopped posting. Maybe because things got too hectic. I graduated, moved back to Drummond, worked at APIS for two months, then moved to Iowa. That's a lot in two months. So I didn't have time for knitting. In fact, I think I've only completed two or three projects in the last six months. Which is pathetic. But I also have other reasons for lack of inspiration. My father passed away in October (the morning after my 27th birthday...birthdays suck) so I've been going to Northern Wisconsin and Peotone and Milwaukee and every which way the last couple months (I can't believe it'll be two months this 15th). The grief hasn't made me especially keen on my usual hobbies. But, I want to get back to knitting because when I do and when I work a pattern I love and when I'm watching something lovely and Jane Austen-y or Downton Abbey-y I almost feel normal again.

So let me tell you about my job, because it's pretty spectacular. Well, spectacular for a recent grad anyway. I'm incredibly lucky to be offered a job doing exactly what I hoped to do: Reference & Instruction. That's my title btw...Reference & Instruction Librarian. Doesn't that just make you smile? It makes me smile. I'm in North Iowa in a little town called Forest City at a little college named Waldorf College. It's about the size of Northland which I'm thankful for because it allows me get a well-rounded experience rather than just being a one-trick pony. When it comes time for me to move on, working at a small library will work in my favor. I'll be able to present myself as flexible and experienced. I work with a great group of people. My director is a riot and wonderfully supportive. I get to try new things, learn, fumble, and make a difference (hopefully). The campus is quiet and it has that small, campus family feel. Even though I'd only been here less than three months when my dad passed away, the outpouring of support and love was heartwarming. That's how I know I'm at a good place.

I started a knitting group on campus: The Knit Wits of North Iowa. It's an open community group and we meet in the library every other Thursday night. I was hoping more students would be involved, but it's still early. Maybe we can gather some more interest next semester. The library team was really supportive of me starting this group and we have a good 5-6 people who regularly attend. Everyone's really friendly and it keeps me on my toes. The first night I had to teach two people how to left-hand crochet. Thank God for Google.

Projects. Well. I kind of gave up on the New Years Resolution thing. Maybe I'll finish one project per year until I'm all caught up. That's the rate I'm going. Not even that rate really. I'm not done with Andrew's Socks.

It's still mostly a Soc...I have to finish the gusset and the foot and the toe. And then the other sock. Maybe I should try knitting English and see if that makes the pattern any easier. It's the twists that get me down. My tension is so tight that it's hard to get my needle under the stitch for the left and right twists. Which makes up the bulk of the pattern. Yay. They're pretty though.

I did a test knit to try and get me out of my funk. I figured having a deadline would help. I made Halona by Allison LoCicero. I chose simple colors and really enjoyed the edging. And I love the wingspan because I'm fat. It can actually wrap around my shoulders. :)

I also made a lace shawl, Cassiope by Alexandra Beck, in my beautiful fall yarn that I got at Yarn Harbor in Duluth, MN with Madeline. (Yarn Harbor is one of my favorite yarn stores. What more could I ask for? Yarn and Lake Superior!)

So I'm really into shawls lately. I'm thinking of starting some mittens for Jen and/or Mary's capelet which is kind of like a shawl.

So what's on my knitting needles? Well. Andrew's Socks. A stoll  from Loops & Threads in my beautiful forest green graduation yarn. And I still have a sweater on my hook for Jen. I hit a road block months and months ago and never figured it out. I should look at it again and call Megan, my go to crocheter.

That's probably enough for tonight. I'll try to post more regularly. It'll give me something to do anyway and maybe it'll help get me out of this funk.

Adulthood? Really?

I graduated from graduate school. I went to Iowa for an in-person interview. I got the job. I'm moving back home for a little while before I start. It's been a crazy month. I finished my classes and passed them all with flying colors (well, except web design but I missed an assignment due to my lack of motivation). All my crap is piled into my closet and I'm not really sure how I'm going to fit it all in my lil car tomorrow morning. Because it's Memorial Day everything is closed and it's screwing up my moving timeline (which is an awful thing to say, but it's true). That doesn't mean I don't respect or remember all the folks who fought for our country...but I had to deposit my checks through an ATM and it was a weird experience. And I have to call TWC tomorrow and cancel my internet and return the box...somewhere. Then I have to pack my car then check out of my apartment. Finally ending my day by driving 6 hours back home. I know in a post not to long ago that I couldn't wait until it was all over, but now I'm freaking out because it's all happening too fast. I just have to remain calm, hike up my big girl pants and deal with it.

Knitting. Funny. So because I've been so busy with school and avoiding school I haven't been knitting. Prior to this past weekend, the last time I knit was when I visited Jen in Evanston in late April. Yea. It's been a while. This past week/end I did go to a Stitch 'n Bitch with my brother's girlfriend-who's-not-his-girlfriend and finished the ribbing for Andrew's sock. Yea...I just finished the cuff ribbing. Pathetic. This weekend I went to Kettle Moraine State Park and knitted in nature with my BFFFL Jen. I have about two rows of red. I need to get back to my old mojo. I think being away from the city will help. Lack of homework will also help.

I start working at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on Thursday for my fourth season. It'll be cut short, however, since I got a real librarian job! Which means I'm moving to Iowa. I'm hoping to start August first so I can save up some money and move and find a place to move to and so on. It's very stressful being an adult. I don't recommend it.

Moving On...

So I haven't updated in a while. A few reasons for my absence include lack of knitting mojo, comps, school, work, and the intense desire to sleep. To sum it up, I have last-semester-itis. You'll be happy to hear I passed my comprehensive exams despite the awful questions and the complete void of comprehensive ability needed to complete them. Now that it's over...I have no ambition for anything else. I'm finding it incredibly difficult to work on other projects, papers, and anything school related. I do go to work. Mainly because I need the money and I can read a novel in between helping patrons. My hope is that the weeks will blur together and before you know it I'll wake up and it'll be May 19th (the day I graduate). In the mean time, I have to pass my classes so I work on stuff as needed.

Unfortunately, my lack of school motivation has crossed over into my knitting life. I completed all but one Christmas gift (I hate that hat) and I have yet to give Emma her gift (it's on my couch waiting to be wrapped). So I've moved on to the second part of my New Year's Resolution: gifts I've promised to people. You'll remember that the list is long and diverse. And there's no rhyme or reason for the order of the making of these gifts. So I cast on Andrew's socks a couple nights ago. He wanted a dark red and grey yarn and despite all the websites I searched, I couldn't find one that fit that description. I thought I found one, so I bought it but when I received it (in like 2 days, go Jimmy Bean Wool!) it was more red and purple so I lamented for a bit then put it away in my stash for a pair of socks for yours truly. (Why let the yarn go to waste?) When Jen was in town, we went to Ruhama's in Whitefish Bay and found a lovely dark red and blue yarn that reminded me of Andrew and his red plaid shirts. To add a touch of grey, when I was in Duluth at Yarn Harbor I got a lovely skein of grey yarn to use for the cuffs, heels, and toes. I wasn't sure how it was going to look at first, but now that I have an inch of the grey cuff and a few rounds of the red/blue skein I kind of like it. Hopefully Andrew will too.

I also started Jen's 1977 McCall's sweater with the yarn I bought last spring. I really like the pattern because it's simple and I can watch copious amounts of I Love Lucy while working on it. I do have to change colors every few rows, but that's alright. I do not have enough yarn though. I blame the amounts given...it's amazing how different instructions were written just 30 or 40 years ago. I'll be making a trip to Michael's soon to pick up more yarn despite Jen's suggestion to use the yarn I have lying around. I want it to be cohesive and I'm not that creative when it comes to colors. I don't have an eye for them like some of my other friends who are extremely artistic. (I always thought it was interesting how impressed people are when I show them something I've knit. It's really just a skill. I don't design the pattern and I simply pick colors I like to use in the pattern.) Hopefully it goes well.

That's all the knitting news I have for you. I'll try to keep you posted as things progress. Happy Yarn Folks!

A Bouquet of Yarns

It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. No comment. Really, I'm not a bitter towards the day. It's just a day. It's an excuse to buy crappy toys and chocolate (seriously, who needs an excuse for chocolate?) and have sex. I've never dated anyone during Valentine's Day, so the appeal is lost on me. Tomorrow I'll be knitting, reading, and dancing around my apartment alone listening to sad country love songs. But I do that on any given day.

I'm reading a lot of young adult fiction instead of reading for my classes. I read Cinder by Melissa Meyer which is a retelling of Cinderella set in the future and our heroine is a cyborg. I didn't think I'd be into it, but now I can't wait for the next book. Next was Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story by Adam Rex. It started out okay, interesting and quirky, but then it didn't go anywhere. The plot didn't make sense and the ending was a cheap shot. I personally didn't care for it, but maybe someone else will. And I'm almost done with Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha VanLeer which I love. It's clever and it reminds me when I was convinced I was in love with Ponyboy from The Outsiders. YA fiction is so fun because it's quick (usually, not always) and the stories are something we can all relate to because we've all been through those teen years.

Back to knitting. I'm working on Megan's hat and I'm going to wait on her Christmas hat because it's annoying me. Maybe she'll get her Christmas gift by the end of March. If so, I'll be on track. I got the yarn for another Christmas/Birthday gift I've been thinking about. And I'm trying to NOT cast on a sock for myself and save my sock enthusiasm for Andrew. Hopefully I can sit down with the two of them (Andrew and Mary) and find patterns.

Here's another project I completed in the last few months:

Super (Yarn) Bowl

Wait, what? A post not two days later?! I'm spoiling you all. I was up late last night (so like any other night) crocheting. I've been trying to figure out a scarf pattern to match my hat without succumbing to those ridiculous diamonds. Because when I was working on my hat I had Megan by my side...to start the diamonds for me. I didn't have that last night. So I gave up on the scarf idea and went for a cowl. Ooo...cowls. Short, simple, sweet, efficient (couldn't think of another 's' adjective). So I made this lovely purple cowl with long double crochets. It was one of those repetitive stitches that I couldn't stop doing! I memorized the two row repeat. I crocheted until my wrist ached and stopped clicking (it usually clicks). During this surge of crocheting I was also watching Gilmore Girls. So, since I have all the time in the world because, you know, I don't have work or class or job applications to fuss over I've been having a Gilmore Girls marathon. It's a show of my adolescence and I never saw it start to finish. So I'm abusing my University library privileges (not really, but sometimes I feel guilty because Universal Borrowing was intended for scholastic endeavors) by ordering all of Gilmore Girls. I suppose I could blame UW-Whitewater since they have all. of. them. Anyway, it just fed into this spiral of crocheting and Gilmore Girls. At one point I thought, "Hey...I'll go to bed around midnight. Get some shut eye." Then Jess was sleeping in his car after Luke's sister came to town and Rory got a bad grade on a paper and Richard and Emily separated! (None of that was in one episode...more like five). I had to keep going. The skein got smaller...the episodes just kept going on and on...who was I to stop it? To make a long, somewhat pathetic story short I made a cowl. Last night.

Which leads me to a different problem. Tonight is Kayla's sort of Super Bowl Party (Go Ravens! I wonder how Edgar Allan Poe would feel about his masterpiece being turned into a mascot for a NFL team?). What makes it a sort of Super Bowl Party of is that the majority of the guests aren't that big into football. So it's a party to eat, drink, knit, and be merry while the Super Bowl plays in the background. (Okay, there will be some football fans there. Like 3 or 4. I'm going to visit with friends I haven't seen in a while and knit). Here's where it gets problematic. I don't have anything to work on! I know, I know...I have a huge list of stuff to start/work on. BUT! I don't have patterns picked out or the yarn purchased for most of those projects. The only thing on my needles is Megan's Christmas hat and I can't knit that with her right there. It wouldn't be polite. Though, one could argue it wasn't very polite to purchase the yarn with her either. Meh. Anyway. I do have the yarn for Jen's 70s sweater. But I'd rather work on something I won't have to pay much attention to. And since the 70s sweater is crochet and a sweater, my nose would be stuck in the pattern the whole time. Maybe another scarf? Just absently knitting? Or I could maybe work on Megan's lotus hat...since I've knit that before maybe it'll be a bit more mindless. I'll have to see about that. Another option is...socks. Socks are small and portable and I've been eyeing the sock yarn I bought not to long ago with the blues and greens and oranges and it'd be lovely made into a cabled pattern. But I'd be knitting it for me. And then I'd be breaking my New New Year's February resolution. Already. Oh the trials and tribulations.

New New Year's February Resolution

I’ve learned a valuable lesson regarding school and knitting: the two cannot possibly coexist. It's been over six months since I last updated my knitting blog. Before, it was work and class and driving to/from said work that kept me from posting. Now it's class and homework and driving to/from fieldwork and the utter lack of motivation and gumption to pick up a project. Don't get me wrong, I have knitted and crocheted at some point in these past six months. I made a few things for Christmas. I even used a glue gun to make a non-knitting but definitely pro-yarn wreath. But I have so much left to do and when I get home at the end of the day I look at my knitting basket and I can't pick anything up. Woe.

 
Let's go over what I have done in the last six months to see if that helps. One big accomplishment: I finished those damn socks! That's right. I cast-off sock number one last semester sometime and in December I cast-off sock number two.  They're all wrapped up now. And have been sitting on my plastic bin dresser for the last two months. I made a hat for Megan which turned out really small so I gave to to Kayla and it sort of fits (it's the pattern, not their heads, that's the problem). Then I made Kayla a cowl for Christmas that was very Kayla-esque in color (one of our co-workers was jealous. I love a bit of knitting envy). For Mary I made these awesome colorwork mittens which I freaked out about because I never made colorwork mittens before but they were actually quite easy (except picking up stitches for the thumbs...that was terrifying).  I crocheted Andrew an awesome scarf with a simple but manly-elegant X pattern in brown and teal. I still have something I'm working on for Megan, but it's challengingly simple (or simply challenging?) and not turning out how I'd like. She picked out a pink yarn, but I don't think it's working for the pattern. I may revisit and change the color. Make her something else fabulous and pink. I made Erin a simple but lovely honeycomb scarf in a pink/white yarn. I love the honeycomb stitch...cabling and simple. And people look at it and go, "Oh my goodness! It must have taken you forever! It's so beautiful!" And I'm all..."Yea, but my knitting skills are just that awesome." Okay. I'm not that pompous about my abilities, but just go with it. Oh, and as I referred to earlier, I made Jen a yarnball wreath! It took a long time and a lot of styrofoam balls (I couldn't believe how expensive styrofoam was!) and a bit of trial and error with wires and glue guns but it's lovely. Last time I was at Jen's it was up on the wall and looked amazing!

It's been so blustery around Milwaukee that my earlobes and my nose have threatened to fall off. I don't know why my body is complaining...my outer wear in Northern Wisconsin consisted of a sweatshirt and a scarf. But since I misplaced all my knitted outerwear (or found some of my earliest knitting attempts at outerwear with unpleasent, scratchy redheart yarn) I have nothing that helps keep the cold at bay. I even had to break down and purchase...I'm sad to report...knitted mittens. I can't find my alpaca mittens. These store bought *scoff* mittens have ladders and don't fit right. And cost $12! I could have bought two skeins of yarn or one really nice skein and made my own damn mittens. But between my lack of ambition and the dropping temperatures I caved and bought a pair. Now I'm working on a scarf to match the hat I just crocheted with the much needed/appreciated assistance of Megan. So...crocheting. I know how to crochet. Apparently I crochet like a knitter (whatever that means). And the pattern I found was free (thanks Ravelry) but the diamond instructions were confusing. Cause, ya see...in Crochetland you build off what you crocheted the row before. So indead of just worrying about the row and the stitch you're working with, you single/double/half double/treble etc. into the single/double/half double/treble etc. stitch from the row before. Which makes things confusing to my knitter's brain. Thankfully I have a go-to crocheter to help me with such things. In college it was Courtney. In grad school it's Megan. I love my hookers (not that kind of hooker...).

I’m trying to get back to my knitting roots. To get back to that energy and excitement that comes from a new project! So I have a new New Year’s resolution: finish Christmas knitting by March and then start and/or finish all the gifts I’ve promised people by the end of 2013. That’s a hefty goal. And to make sure I don’t forget as much as I’m bound to…I’ll make a list:

Megan: palmless (fingerless?) gloves, lotus hat that was too small
Jen: crochet 70’s sweater, epic socks I promised three years ago
Dad: blaze orange fingerless gloves and gater
Memo: sharks and a new scarf (piano?) since she only has the one I made her several years ago
Andrew: socks
Mary: birthday capelet, knitted headband (turning out more challenging than I thought)
Scott: Civil War socks 

I'm probably forgetting something for someone. But it's a list in progress so I can add and adjust as need be. Once I finish all these gifts I'm hoping to dedicate 2014 to me. That may sound selfish but I haven't spent time on my knitting gifts to myself in a while (with the exception of a few necessary items like my outer wear or my sock motivation shawl). ...I don't remember if I talked about my motivation shawl. So last semester I was having trouble with my knitting ambition (what else is new?) so I decided to start this beautiful shawl I saw in Jane Austen Knits. It's incredibly daunting because you cast-on a bunch of stitches and work with insanely long circular needles. I knitted like two rows and I think my cast-on count was wrong or I accidentally missed an increase so the stitch count is off. Everytime I'd become frustrated with the socks I was working on I'd start my sock motivation shawl and suddenly - like magick - the socks wouldn't seem so bad. And poof! socks are done! (maybe not like "poof!" but poof-like).

That should do for now. I'll post pictures later tonight probably when I have time/find them. I'll also work on my excessive use of parenthesis.