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.

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.

Bunny Cake, Sweaters, and National Library Week

Good morning! (Don't worry, I'm not usually this perky in the morning.) I hope you all had a lovely weekend -- a lovely Easter/Passover/Peep holiday. My weekend was rather chill. I went to an Orphan Easter party at my friends' place complete with ham, and cheesy potatoes, and deviled eggs, and cupcakes and every good alcoholic thing. I made a bunny cake for the event. I don't think Duff from "Ace of Cakes" will hire me anytime soon, but it was funfetti, delicious, and well liked by all. Our Orphan Easter party was originally going to feature that epic of tales, The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston. Instead we watched Ghost Busters and Tales from the Crypt, which I honestly don't remember being so sexual. But then again, I was between 3 and 10 years old when it aired. I didn't get home until 3ish (I know, I'm such a party animal).

The next day I managed to wake up after 8 hours of sleep which is partially a miracle because I usually get grumpy with only 9 hours of sleep. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining and birds chirping that I started to feel guilty about staying inside. Judy and I went for a lovely 3-mile walk along the Milwaukee River. Brisk and refreshing! When we returned home I picked up my knitting, of course. I finished the strange rib pattern for the cowl and just completed the first row of the yarn over pattern when I noticed I didn't end on the right number of stitches. So in a bit here, I'm going to rip it and see where I went amiss. Here's a fun fact for you knitters that I didn't know until I worked on this sweater: yfwd (yarn forward) is the same as yo (yarn over). Yarn forward is the British term for a yarn over. It drove me nuts when I first started this pattern because I didn't know what a yfwd was. I thought it was when you bring the yarn to the front, but you usually only do that to purl or slip a stitch. Thanks to the magic of Google (yes, librarians use Google) I found a page that explained this English to English translation conundrum. I'm hoping to finish knitting the cowl tonight so I can assemble it tomorrow. I want it completed so I can send it off to Memo while there are still some chilly days before summer.

Oh, I also remembered another WIP I forgot to mention. BFFFL blanket! Jen is my BFFFL (Best, Friends, Forever, For Life) and we thought it would be an awesome idea to create a blanket knit by the both of us. So we're both knitting squares: different patterns, different colors for each two squares. For example, I knit 2 6x6 squares with cables using a lovely blue worsted weight yarn. I kept one square and I sent the other to Jen. She'll (one of these days) knit some squares and keep one and send the other to me. By the time we're done, we'll be 64 and have enough squares to create a patchwork blanket knit by both of us. It's kind of cutesy but a good remnant buster. I've only made two squares. I blame work and school for not giving me enough time to devote to my knitting excursions.

But I'm off today, I just have to head to campus for an hour or so to help out at a table display to show off National Library Week! That's right! It's an entire week to celebrate the wonderful things your library does for the community and the world! Check out the American Library Association (ALA) site celebrating libraries: http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek After tabling, I hope to get home and work on that cowl and if I have enough time, I want to CO (cast on) a pair of socks. We'll see how it goes. To all of you I wish you a Happy Library Week filled with book scent and shhhing!