what I did with my winter vacation

Stripes, actually, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Although school has been out for almost a month, I still cannot say that my knitting speed has picked up much. So really the only thing I have to show for my "time off" is this cowl.*



Pattern is Duotone Cowl on ravelry.
Yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino almost exactly one skein each of dill and purple mystery (I brought 2 of each and I really truly thought I was going to run out of the dill towards the end but it made it with just yards to spare!).
Mods: none, except for that pesky extra row that showed up uninvited. Since it's only on one side of the tube it can be turned to the inside and never seen again!

*OK, so I did do some academicky things, like go to a conference and interview for several jobs, work on proposals/papers for conferences, finalize syllabi for the new semester, etc etc... which on paper actually looks like a lot, but the knitting was scarce amongst those others.

last 2013 knit

garter shawl, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

2013 (especially the second half) was not great for knitting production. New jobs, moves, etc all kept me away from the needles. Not that I'm complaining... a job is a good thing, even when it doesn't afford one much time to knit.

My last finished knit of 2013 was a shawl for DH's grandmother. Just a simple garter triangle (start with 3 stitches, increase on one side until out of one ball of yarn then decrease on same side until out of stitches) made out of Patons North American Classic Worsted in Natural. I didn't get any other pictures, so unfortunately this one of her unwrapping other gifts will have to do.

In 2014 I'm hoping I'll have a little more time for knitting. I'm only teaching 2 classes in the Spring instead of 3, and one is a repeat from last semester, which will also help. So I'm returning to my beloved sock swap, moderating and swapping for the 12th swap. Sign ups are open from Jan 1 - 31 and swapping will take place from Feb 1 - April 30. There's also a special deal from yarn mountain for swappers, so be sure to sign up soon (offer is only good until Jan 15, I believe).

Happy new year of knitting!

extra rows

extra rows, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

See that one line of purple in the midst of those 3 green rows there? That is not supposed to be there. Or maybe it's the first row of green that is out of place? Either way, I somehow picked this back up in the middle of a round and started over with one or the other when I was supposed to. The other side looks fine, you'd never know that there was a huge, honking error staring at you from behind. But there is.

So, do I rip back a considerable amount? Or just wear that side on the inside of the cowl? I'm inclined not to rip it out, but maybe it'll look worse in the light of day...

Last year's & new year's stashes

Duo tone mal cowl, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

From last Christmas' yarn acquisition, I'm finally making a cowl out of the two colours of malabrigo silky merino that DH gave me. He gave me similar yarn this year that might make a hat or mitts to match... sadly no pics of that yarn yet.

What I do have, however, are pictures of two (yes two) knit picks samplers gifted to me by my in-laws. They were very generous and got me the Autumn Stroll Sampler and the Monochrome Sampler (which appears to have been discontinued/is no longer on the website).

My own pics of the yarns can be found here for the autumn set and here for the monochrome.

I hope everyone had a happy holiday and got all the yarn their heart desired!

Cabled <3

Cabled , a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

An (almost finished) Christmas hat for my niece. All that is missing is the pom-pom and a couple of i-cords to tie it under her chin. We won't seen them until after New Years, so fortunately I think I have more than enough time to finish it off!

Pattern is I heart cables and yarn is Drops Alpaca held double. Did the toddler size, since niece is 1.5 years and already wearing 2T clothes.

Haven't knit much this year (teaching and researching is time-consuming!) but I did get a lot of knitting-related stuff for Christmas! Will try to show it off soon, including the awesome light-box/tripod set-up DH got me! (Didn't bring it along with us, so a background of monkey-knitting-pjs will have to suffice for now.)

biased, garter, baby blanket

biased garter blanket, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I do love me some garter stitch on the bias. Not to mention using up all those little, soft, leftovers of sock yarn held together... perfection!

This is going to be the much-overdue present for a babe who joined my circle of friends and family this past year. If I'm this behind on baby things I'm not sure how I'm going to get to any of the holiday things I planned to make... but I'm going to try anyway! 26 days until Christmas.... although I do get an extra 10 before we actually head home to see my side of the family!

swedish stripes yellow toes

swedish stripes yellow toes, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

DH lived in Sweden, once upon a time, and very much likes all things Swedish. Ikea, meatballs, and the combination of yellow and blue. (Yes, I know, there are lots more things about Sweden, and he likes most of them too... especially fish paste in a tube—no, really, it's a thing.)

Anyway, I got some yellow and blue sock yarn in my most recent international sock swap package and I thought it would be the perfect combo for him.

No pattern, just cast on 64, knit 10 rows of twisted 1x1 rib, and then 2 rounds of yellow, 4 rounds of blue. Jogless joins for the colour changes.* Short row heels and yellow toes (per his request).

*To work stripes so that the jog isn't quite so noticeable, do the following: Knit one round with your new colour. When you return to the beginning of the round, lift the first stitch in the previous colour onto your lefthand needle and knit it together with the first stitch of the second round of your new colour. You'll still be able to see a bit of a change if you look carefully, but it won't be so glaringly obvious...

mini prof

profe vest, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

As a distraction from the sweater that may never end (although it has gotten sleeves since last seen, so that's something... but it doesn't take away from the fact that I'm going to have to do some major surgery in order to add more length to the body), I cast on one of the several baby gifts that I've been meaning/needing to make for the many babies that have recently come into the lives of my friends...

Thus the baby professor vest for the baby of a friend who is also in academia. I'm hoping it will fit him around Christmas time, and they happen to live in a part of the world where they won't necessarily need much more than this, even in their so-called winter.

Yarn is knit picks swish worsted, less than 1.5 skeins.
Needles: US 7
Mods: None

so far, so sleeveless

sleeveless, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I've been knitting away on my colourblock sweater in all my spare time (aka none), but I've finally bound off the shoulders and started the sleeves.

I'm trying to decide if I'll need to add any length to the sweater, but I might wait to see if it grows with blocking. The sleeves will be purple, and I might also use that for the collar but I also have enough grey (if I don't add length to the body).

Not very interesting, I know, but stockinette is about all I can handle right now!

thank gord for forgotten packages on a long Monday

Forgotten packages, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Today felt long. Longer than long. I don't really know why except that maybe it had something to do with my students not doing as well as I hoped on an assignment (yes, those things bum out profs almost as much as they bum out the students receiving the marked-up papers...) or perhaps because of the lunch meeting that was not really as stimulating as one might hope (although there was free food...)

In any case, whatever the reason, today felt extra long, and it was, of course, a Monday. But I did return home to find a package that I had almost forgotten about! I bought some yarn that a friend of a friend was destashing on Ravelry last week and it showed up today! Two skeins of blue moon fiber arts "socks that rock" (one lightweight, on the lower right and one mediumweight, upper/left) in mill ends colours. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, but the lightweight screams Christmas to me, so I hope that by December I'll have had the chance to make myself some Christmas-y socks, perhaps?

I had almost thrown out the packaging before I felt a little bump in the bottom, and when I felt around inside, I found these:



Adorable earrings shaped like balls of yarn with needles stuck in them!! I'm so glad they didn't get thrown out! The destashing raveler in question apparently makes them, so I'll try to get the name/url of her shop so that I can pass it along to anyone who is interested. ETA: her shop is Double Dee Designs!

Now to find some food and then to collapse... at least Tuesdays are generally short around here!

progress

Another terrible office shot, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

It might be boring, but it's progress all the same!

I've come to the end of the teal (that bit at the top is all that is left) and I've started on a ball of grey. I'm going to knit about 2.5 inches of grey and then split for the sleeves. I was hoping to get a teeeeeeny bit more out of the teal, but the skein ends where the skein ends, you know?

Next time you see this, it'll be so much more exciting, what with the whole other colour of grey on top! Right?!

Autumn To-Knit List

What, so it's still summer-like weather where you are, too? So what?! This weekend is the official start of FALL, my favorite season (and a good colour palette for me) and I want to get into it already!

Things I *neeeeeed* to knit this fall:

1. Three... no, four baby things. 3 for babies already here, 1 for one soon to show up on the scene. I promised the summer mom's that they'd have something for their babes once the weather got cool... so maybe I should be thanking the warm weather for sticking around a little longer and giving me more time!

2. Holiday gifts? I'm not sure how many there will be this year, but I'm hoping to do something crafty for at least a couple of the people on my regular gift list!

That's probably it for things that are absolutely necessary... but of course there is always *want*:

1. My fingering weight st st sweater, which is actually coming along surprisingly quickly (update photos to follow shortly)!

2. Socks. Of course! We (meaning DH and I) can always use more socks. And I always seem to have more sock yarn...

3. Replacement gloves and/or mitts for me: I lost one of these last winter and they never did get reunited... and these mitts are finally starting to unravel/fall apart... they were the first projects I made when I got back in to knitting in 2007, they're super warm, and I'm sort of sad/in denial. I'll probably keep them around for another season or two, but they need backup.

I think that's it for me... what are you knitting this fall?

Sock swap 10 received!

Sock swap 10, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I just got my swap package from this past swap and even though I took part in the "frugal" group my knitter was way overly generous. Interestingly enough, the partner I sent to downstream was also my upstream partner! (We don't usually plan it that way but sometimes it just works out.) So, if you remember what my swap package looked like you will notice that we basically just traded green socks! hehe!

And a close up of the fantabulous socks, so you can see how well they fit:



Unfortunately my camera seems to have gone missing (I know it's around, I've seen it, but that's the way with moving... everything finds a new home and then I can't find it again), so I had to rely on my iPhone for these pics... hopefully it'll show up again soon so I can show off the slow, somewhat boring progress of my fingering weight stockinette stitch sweater!

There's still time to sign up for the next swap! Sign ups are open until Sept 30 and swapping/knitting will take place between Oct 1 and Dec 31!

Christmas not Christmas

Christmas not Christmas, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I saw these at a garage sale this morning and had an idea... the 5 in packages are new and were 0.10$ a piece. The three in the gold frames were a set for $1.00 and I actually want them just for the frames... and the kits mostly for the thread. I have an idea, and it might become a Christmas present, but I don't think it will be Christmas themed....

Cryptic, I know, but sometimes surprises are more fun when they are actually surprises!

faster than the speed of light

iss12_003_medium, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

It's a bird, it's a plane.... no, it's my swappee's package!*

I sent it last Friday and she received it (in Europe, no less) on Tuesday!! She took much better pictures than I, so I'm posting them here to show you how well they fit:



I think the "will they fit" worry is even worse than the "will it get lost in transit" one... so hurray on both points!!

In other knitting news, I'm trying to make myself a colour-block style sweater... and by "trying to make" I mean "making it up as I go along". So we'll see how that works out. So far, it hasn't gotten a lot of attention:



but it is simple enough that I can work on it while I'm reading, etc, in my office (also pictured above).

*The sock swap is open again for sign-ups!! If you are interested or want more information, please come check us out on ravelry!!

monkeying around (again)

monkeys again, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I'm baaaaaaaack. In the interim I've moved, started a new job, cracked/lost a filling and (therefore) gone to the dentist... twice. (I have a phobia of dentists, so that's huge for me. That's right, I'm anti-dentite.)

I also, somehow, finally finished knitting my socks for the sock swap. I'll be packing them up and sending them this morning!

Pattern is the irreplaceable monkeys by Cookie A, yarn is cascade heritage, and needles are US 1 DPNs. No mods, except that I did a partrige heel (I think that's right... where you slip one knit one on the right side?).

'cause it's just not finished without buttons

Mom's bday sweater, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Although I finished knitting this sweater almost a month ago... and my mom's birthday was exactly a month ago.... I didn't get around to sewing the buttons on until today. In my defence, the sweater took an exorbitant amount of time to dry when blocking, and then I had to leave the country for a couple of weeks to help my DH finish packing up our old apartment... but still, it seems a little ridiculous.

In any case, the sweater is now *officially* finished! And, if you can't tell, it's definitely in a colour she likes (the bracelets and necklace were already on before I gave her the sweater to try on). And in good/bad news, it is currently cold enough to wear a alpaca/wool sweater. Apparently the weather/mother nature didn't realize that it is still the middle of summer.

In other knitting news, I also finished a baby hat a couple of weeks ago:



This one will go to my niece's soon to be cousin (to be born almost a year to the day that my niece was!).

Not a whole lot more knitting has been happening, since, as I mentioned, we've been packing up and preparing to move. Our stuff, in fact, has already been delivered to our new home and we will be on our way tomorrow. We're visiting family for a few days and gave our niece some early bday presents. I'm a little sad to miss her actual birthday next month, but I'm also excited (and a little terrified) to have a "real job"... hence the move.

Maybe I'll get a little knitting time in when I'm on the off-shift of driving? One can only hope!

blocking is magic

blocking the back, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Although it's a crappy picture (lighting is terrible today, plus the spot I usually block in is not really the best for photo ops), you can probably get a much better picture of how the vest I showed you the other day is turning out.

Moral of the story: block your knits, kids.

a brief and true report of the back of a vest

back o' vest, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

It's been a long time, I know. Insert usual excuses here + lots of travel/new job/moving related ones too.

Above you will (hopefully) see a picture of the back of a vest that I have been working on for far too long. I started it almost one month ago and this is as far as I've gotten. I haven't even made it to the arm-hole shaping yet. Again, I blame travel/new job/moving type things for my knit-inertia. Knitnertia?

One thing I did finish in this last month, however, is this:



So that's something, I guess?!

Expect more vest pics soon. I want to have it done in the next 2 weeks AND I have tons of babies to knit for. At least 3 that I know of will be born in the next month...

3 day shawl

ishbel, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Started this on a Thursday, bound off on a Saturday... world record for fastest shawl?! Of course, I made the smaller size, and currently have nothing better to do... so at least I get something out of all my tv watching time!

Pattern is Ishbel.
Yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in logwood.
Needles: US 5
Mods: none, except that I blocked it wrong... there shouldn't be a point at the bottom, but rather two points on either side of the center, which seems counterintuitive to me. But for now I'm going to leave it as is.