Tuesday, March 30, 2010

It's a good thing I'm not a werewolf.

I can see the full moon outside my window right now. If I were a werewolf, we'd have a few problems for sure. I don't have much to show you in the way of knitting; what I do have isn't even a good picture.


I haven't been able to knit as much as I like this week because I have an interview for the Master's in Genetic Counseling program at OU on Friday. I've been trying to prepare myself for it. I have 6 (yes, 6. God help me) 30 minute interviews with various faculty, genetic counselors, and the program director. My attention has been elsewhere for the past few days.

In other news, did you see the progress bar thingy on the right? I love it! I'm so excited that I figured it out. I had some help from a ravelry group. It's sometimes ridiculous how the littlest things can make me happy.

We're headed to the ILs after my interview(s) are over, so this will probably be the last post until Monday or so. Happy Easter!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Aragorn

I'm about 75% done with the first sock. I really like these socks, but once again I think I might have made a sizing error. I'd love to get it right one of these times. As you can see in the pictures (sorry that they're crappy iPhone pics; I had a bad night that included 8 hrs of driving between 10pm and 7am), the socks fit me well. The problem lies with the fact that I wear a size 6 shoes and the recipient wears a 9. Hopefully blocking fixes all.

Monday, March 22, 2010

I'm sure there are dozens of jokes about the clap...

so I won't bore you with any more. I will, however, show you my clap. I've even managed to drop down one of the stitches. I'm about 3 rows away from dropping the next one. Dropping the first stitch wasn't as hard as I thought it would be-many of the project pages on Ravelry say that the malabrigo lace is sticky. I didn't really have any trouble.

You all know what my favorite yarn dyer is. Stacy of Tempted Yarns had a trunk show at the LYS on Friday, and of course, I went. I managed to snag some Good Grrl in the Deviant Behavior colorway (why do I keep spelling "behavior" with a "u?" I always have to retype it).

Isn't it pretty?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

If I say I'll never knit something, chances are I will.

I said I'd never knit a shawl. I said I'd never make a sweater. I said that the clapotis is dumb and not for me. What have I done? I have a girasole, a blackberry cabled cardigan, and now, a clapotis.

I finally found a use for my malabrigo lace. This poor yarn has been knit into an ill-fated skirt (frogged), a featherweight cardigan (frogged), and now a scarf (still going strong). The trick with the clapotis is that you intentionally drop stitches so that it has cute gaps. The malabrigo gives it a very light, airy feel. I think it will be dainty enough to work well for professional wear if I get into grad school.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

That's one item off of the list!

I've finished my sweater! I think it's a little bit big while wearing it, but in the picture it doesn't look that bad. Maybe it's ok. It still needs to be blocked to get the collar to lay correctly. I also get to cross #4 off of my new year's resolutions list.I learned several things while knitting this sweater.
  1. I can successfully drop a section of the back down 32 rows to fix a mistake, but I should have done it when I only had to go down 7 rows.
  2. I made a button hole for the first time.
  3. It might have been possible to finish it during the ravelympics if I had learned lesson #1 a bit sooner.
  4. I just finished my first sweater! (Not to be confused with my first sweater I've knit, which is my CPH and only lacks putting the sleeves on)
In totally non-knitting-related news, I got an interview for grad school. I've applied to a genetic counseling master's program, and my interview is April 2. My knitting might slow down a bit because I want to brush up on genetics stuff before the interview. :) One hurdle down! Now I just have to avoid making an idiot of myself in the interview and maybe I'll have a decent chance of getting in.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Ladies and gentlemen, we have... a blob.

My blackberry cabled cardigan is currently masquerading as a blob. I picked up the stitches again, this time doing 7 of every 8. I came up with 468 stitches, which is close to the number required for the small size. So, I'm taking that number and running with it. I don't know what else to do. I picked up the stitches with US6s (2 sizes smaller than the US8 I did the rest with), and OMG I literally bruised my finger and thumb when I knit the first row with the 8s. The side of my thumb was purple for 2 days.


I took the Aragorn socks to work with me the past 2 days, and I'm getting close to starting the gusset on the first sock. I'm making them for my childhood bff for her birthday (late March). I have a feeling I may be a bit late.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Acquisition

I'm still working on the Ravelympics sweater. I followed the directions: I tied a yarn every 2 inches, I followed the conventional rule of 3 stitches per 4 rows, I picked up with a smaller needle, and what do I get? 404 sts. I should have ~524. So let's not go there today. I may take out all of the stitches I picked up tonight, or I may not. But let's not talk about the sweater right now, mkay? I'm seriously contemplating just sitting here in my chair, petting my new yarn purchase and drooling. What's that, a new yarn acquisition, you say? My friends, my Wollmeise cherry has been officially popped, and it.feels.great.


You just knew it would be blue, right? If you didn't know that right off, then you don't know me at all. Of course it's blue. Kornblume is such a lovely shade of blue that I don't want to put it down. I may not ever knit with it. What's so special about WM, you ask? You know, I'm not really sure. Beyond that fact that the colors are amazing and that it sells out instantly, it could just be any other yarn. But it's soft, and beautiful, and lovely.

And it is allllll mine.


PS: Did you see what the yarn harlot knit for the knitting olympics? A-freaking-mazing. Go look. Now.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Ravelympics: Day 17

I didn't finish in time, but I tried my hardest. All I lack from finishing is a 2" ribbing border that goes all the way around; however, the thought of picking up 524 sts was enough to make me throw in the towel (with only an hour left until the deadline).

I'm happy with it, although I think it is a bit too big. I think it will work ok though for layers.

Please ignore the fact that it looks like I have a headless body. My face was in no shape to be photographed today lol.