under the wire

feb siac, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

With 7 mins to spare, here is the february SIAC entry. Simple toe-up, heel-flap socks with a picot hem.

Maybe more about them later... now it's time to collapse.

wedding gloves, groom edition

wedding gloves for a groom, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

excuse the picture, I had to hand them off immediately and I was in the library with only my camera phone on hand... aka the grad student excuse.

Finally finished up the gloves for my friend's husband. She's off to visit him tomorrow (another perk of the grad student life: potentially living apart while your partner works in one place and you are making the mad dash to finish your dissertation...), so I wanted to give them to her before she left.

Pattern is: Dancing at Lughnasa (rav link).
Yarn is: Cascade Heritage Solid
Needles: US 1 & 2 DPNs
Mods: None, actually.

My original rav post here.

Happy Valentines' Day

A hat, for my Valentine. He's already caught glimpses of it, on flickr or ravelry and said "hey, what's that?" to which I quickly and smartly (ha!) reply "NOTHING!" in a really squeaky voice, so I'm sure he hasn't caught on at all. In any case, I'm time-stamping this to post later, so that it might not ruin the surprise, if there is one left.

Also, I'm not that ubber-skinny, I swear. But apparently a big bulky hat can make you look half your size in no time! It's going to be the latest dieting trend, for sure.

UFO-busting

leg warmers, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

pattern: yoga socks/leg warmers (leg warmer version, obv) by Drops Studio. yarn: starry by dream in color.

These have been long-languishing in the UFO pile (started July 9, while still in Spain, these were finished up on a plane this past Friday, with the ends woven in and photographed this morning), and now they're finally done! As part of the stash-bust, I'm including the need-to-finish-UFO-bust.

My UFO pile isn't that big... but my need-to-knit pile is starting to be... next up on the need-to-do list is to finish up the wedding-gloves: groom edition, and then start on the blanket for another wedding present-owed. (yes, that means the wedding has come and gone... whoops.) Also: wedding sweater: my groom's edition and the shawlette that I plan on wearing myself on the special day.

Oh, and that pesky dissertation... I handed in my first chapter a little over a week ago though, so that's good, right?!

after!

after, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I finally got around to felting the slippers for my partner's birthday yesterday. He loves them and says they are keeping his feet very warm. In fact, I had to rip them off his feet to get a decent photo:



But I'm glad he's enjoying them!

Pattern is Felted Slippers from Midnattsol (rav link ).
Yarn is bits and pieces of left over malabrigo... first my own and then some sent to me from a fellow raveler after an impassioned plea... which is why they don't exactly match... but I kind of think that makes them all the more charming.

I highly recommend this as a first felting project (it was mine!). It's such a simple design (remember the mishappen scarf), so it takes very little time to knit up and it doesn't seem like it would be such a horrible disaster if it didn't work out. In fact, at one point I was convinced I had let them stay in the washing machine too long, and that they were too small, but they worked out perfectly!



Original ravelry post.

February SIAC

cascade heritage redux, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

For the February Self-Imposed-Accessory-Club I will be making some toe-up socks (possibly in my Socks for a Winter's Night pattern or possibly plain) as a class example, in some cascade heritage that was almost a different pair of socks... but then wasn't. It has been around, in one form or another for well over a year now, so it's high-time it got used! Only problem: class doesn't start until Feb 12... which will just impose my no-yarn-before-SIAC-is-complete yarn diet for most of the month of February. Which will be hard, but probably not such a bad thing.

The 3rd International Sock Swap is underway, this time I am not participating (I just have TOO MUCH other stuff on my plate right now), but I am still moderating. I hope all the swappers have a great time!