hemlock ring wedding blanket

hemlock ring wedding blanket, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

One of my best friends is getting married in just over 2 weeks, so this is for her ( and her to-be hubby, of course).

It's not quite as big as I wanted, but I was running short on yarn and time... yes she's getting married in 2 weeks, but I'm going home in less than a week and I wanted to have it done and blocked before I flew home.

Here's a full view of it blocking on my double-sized bed:



Pattern is Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood (brooklyntweed)
Yarn: Cascade Soft Spun (4.5 skeins)
Needles: size 11(US) 8mm
Mods: Didn't do the crazy picot bindoff, instead just P2tog, slip stitch back to left needle.

stop playing with your knitting!

sock "puppet", originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

yeah, I know, I'm a dork. But I just realized you could turn a sock into a "puppet" after turning the heel. Pull on the string and his "mouth" opens and closes...



See?

Someday this is going to be the right sock of the beautiful Kai-mei socks by Cookie A, from her new book Sock Innovation.

/end dorkitude. It's the heat, I swear.

slow knitting

twisted flower, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the "slow movement" - the idea that we need to slow down our fast-paced lives and turn to simpler things. The slow food movement, for example, promotes using locally available, organically grown foods to cook home-cooked meals at home. Crazy, I know.

These socks, Cookie A's twisted flower, are a prime example of slow knitting (to which there is a dedicated ravelry group (actually dedicated to the slow concept in general, not necessarily promoting slow knitting...)).

A lot of people talk about process knitters vs product knitters. Those who enjoy the process, the stitches, learning new techniques, vs those who look at a project and go "ooooh I want THAT". I think I'm a little of both. I will admit that I have, on occasion, wanted a project so badly that I'll set unrealistic finishing goals. I have knit sweaters (two, both technically vests, but you get the idea) in less than a weeks time. Sometimes, a simple sock can take me less than 2 days.

But then sometimes I start knitting something (and I don't usually tend to knit anything that I think "ew, who would want that?!, so in some ways I suppose it is always about the product) and the process of knitting it takes over. These socks are a prime example. Started December 7, 2008 and completed July 20, 2009 (that's 7 months and just shy of 2 weeks for anyone counting), I believe that's the longest it's ever taken me to complete any project... and socks are supposed to be small and quick, right?!

Now, that isn't 7 months and 2 weeks of continuous knitting by any means. First Christmas knitting took over, then other projects, but every once in a while I would pick these up, knit a few rows, and then usually put them right back down again. I used the cabling-without-a-cable-needle technique for these and found that with such small stitches, my hands would hurt after a while. Far more than with any other kind of knitting I've done before, which also contributed to the lengthy process.

But now they're done and ready to wear... and it's about a billion degrees out... so I guess they won't really come full circle to their complete purpose for a couple more months.

For those still reading, and interested in the close ups of front and back here they are:

Front:

and back:


Forgive the top picture, we just moved and are still in the process of unpacking and figuring the whole thing out. Including the best spot for FO pictures...

things neglected

checking it out..., originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

And I don't mean the cats. Pictured alongside of the cats (big cat is fully in the picture, little cat was about to join the party as seen by the teeny paws coming into view in the top of the picture) is the garter stitch sock scraps blanket.

Here's a better view of just the blanket:



And another thing that I often forget to blog:



I finished up two bears for the mother bear project, but only have a FO picture of this guy, named Sam, since I finished him on July 4th (get it, Sam... Uncle... yeah.).

Hope everyone is having a great summer! I can't believe it's July already!!