Knitting...Olympics

So I am "competing" in the knitting Olympics, wherein you challenge yourself to finish a project within the time the Olympics take place. Cast on when the torches are lit, finish before the torches are extinguished. I have challenged myself not only to knit with 2 circulars (I'm a dpn kind of girl) but also to do Absinthe from Knitty. I need to have this first sock done by Saturday to be on schedule, I think I can do it.

In other news, I got a bunch of stuff from KnitPicks. It's pretty awesome, I ordered the nickel plated interchangables. I want to use them, but I've got to finish the Olympic socks! Argh! Sorry for the shitty picture quality, I'm a lazy ass who posted from an IPhone.

This is Arkansas. What is the deal with the weather?

So here is in central Arkansas, we are blessed to have a snow day, or two consecutive snow days.

We don't know what to do when there are two separate incidents.

At least today I can work on my Firestarter socks, I am turning the heel on the last one. I am also going to watch The Search for Spock. The planned day was going to be going to school and learning more bones in the skull. Knitting and sitting on my butt? Should be a good day.

This city may have to invest in a snow plow.

Snowed In.

We rarely get snow days here in central Arkansas. We usually get ice that melts by late afternoon. Not this time, though.

I work at a national chain retail store that sells primarily books. I have worked there for 2 years, and we have never closed due to inclement weather. However, yesteday morning the city was covered with a layer of ice about 1/2 an inch thick. Here is a close up:

I was off work (and class, for that matter) anyway so the ice didn't really effect me. I was supposed to be at work at 7 a.m. on Saturday (today), so I was hoping for a hold-over of the ice. I wasn't hoping that hard, because it was just damn unlikely. However, it began sleeting heavily Friday afternoon, and by 8 p.m. I received the call from management: no work Saturday!

It's been very nice, I love snow days. My roommate and I walked to Kroger for cornmeal so I could make cornbread with our potato leek soup. It was a fun little trek. Later that evening, our friend Michael walked over (he lives maybe a 1/2 mile away). Later, his roommate Lacy and our friend Trey walked over as well. It was nice, you can still see everyone's prints in the snow.

I'm going to get back to knitting. Much of yesterday was spent knitting my 2nd Firestarter sock and watching Star Trek: TNG. Hopefully I will finish the sock soon, I am about to turn the heel. It's a toe-up sock so that means I have the heel and cuff left.

And here is a pic of what Ditto was up to yesterday. She loves that we were all home yesterday, almost as much as she loves boxes. Everyone being home a second day is going to just blow her mind.

Okay, I'll admit it. Knitting can require patience.

One thing that all knitters hear, ALL THE TIME, is "oh, I don't have the patience for knitting!" And all knitters make pretty much the same response: "I knit because I am NOT patient." When you are a knitter, you always have something to keep you occupied, and you never have to 'be patient' while in line, at a doctors office, waiting for the movie to start, etc because you have knitting you can pull out to keep you occupied. I, for one, am not patient. I like knitting while listening to music. I like knitting while talking to friends. I like knitting when I am on break at work. All because I do not want to sit and do nothing, i.e. "wait". I am not patient.

So what do I mean, knitting can require patience? Well, sometimes (okay most of the time) I screw up and have to tink back stitches to correct a mistake I made. Or I have to make a stupid swatch to see if I have gauge (I don't often do this). Or, worst of all, I have to rip back several hours of work because I f*d up. Hence why this half-way done glove:

Now looks like this:

Boo! I was almost done with the thumb increase! Almost to the easiest part of the glove! What happened, you ask? Well, I have already done the right glove. The way the pattern is written (it is Women's Lace Gloves for those of you who care, found at Free Vintage Knitting Patterns), you look at the first and second pages (the right hand glove) for the lace pattern, and once you are on the left hand glove you just flip over to pages 3 and 4 for increases and other instructions. But you still have to look at pages 1 and 2 for the lace pattern. The pattern is quite easy, and I have it memorized. BUT, sometimes when you are drinking or something your memory is not quite as good, so I still refer to the lace pattern. Well, the thing is, I blew right on into the thumb increase and didn't bother to turn the page. Even sadder, I didn't notice until last night at work. I had finally increased enough that I could slip it on to my hand and see how the pattern looks and how the glove fits. It looked quite beautiful, so I decided to compare it with the first glove. I pulled it out of my knitting bag, and realized that it should go on the same hand modeling the second glove. Crap.

See? They are both laying palm up, and the thumb increase in on the same side. Crap.

Even more depressing, I used larger size 2s for the first glove. When I got to the fingers, the fingers were baggy so I switched to smaller size 2s (I need to learn the metric sizes, huh?). Since the first glove is a bit baggy, I decided to knit the left glove with the smaller 2s. It does look better, and if they are much different I will reknit the right glove with these smaller needles, hence why I haven't woven in the ends yet. Judging from this picture, I will need to reknit the right glove.

And guess what I just thought of? If I am going to do that, I should NOT have ripped back the left glove, I should have designated it the reknit! Shit! Shit! Too late now.

In happier news, it was my birthday and this was my cake. It wasn't bad, but it was more like a two-layer brownie than a cake. That is what I get for being vegan, I guess.

While I was outside taking pictures of my bullshit glove project, the cats ventured out with me. Ditto looks like a big, fat raccoon. Stubbles looks like a bitchy hairy poof, as usual. And yes, as evidenced by the pictures of the gloves as well as this one, it is totally gray outside. Gray, gray, gray. Depressing.

I guess I will get back to knitting, dammit. I haven't finished my mom's sweater because a bunch of crap has happened, so it will just be a gift when I finish it. I will size it on her when I see her at Christmas. Instead I had to buy her some shit. Oh well.

It's been a rough couple of months.

And this weekend was the roughest part. Starting on Friday morning (when I got approximately 3 hours of sleep) I went and took two finals. The madness just ended fifteen minutes ago, when I sent in my final paper. I am officially done with schoolwork until the resumption of classes in January. I am so glad. Something I really enjoyed and cared about ended this weekend as well, but I actually feel a bit freer and less preoccupied because of this. Bring on the vacation, bring on the knitting. I am glad I made it. I will turn 28 on Saturday, the 19th, and I think everything is going to be okay.

Hey, look, a sweater. I think.

Apparently, its really cool to sleep on a bed if you are a cat. Stubbles has been sleeping on my bed lately, and she just looks so cute and comfy that I have been letting her do it. She sleeps on the blankets, rather than the sheets, so its not a big deal. It appears that Ditto wanted some of this bed action as well. I snapped this a few days ago: I couldn't resist, they are so cute.





About 15 seconds after I took these pictures, Ditto jumped up and ran away. I guess she thought she was in trouble. Thats pretty funny, considering she doesn't ever see the problem when she decides to sit on the dining room table. It's pretty gross, and when you yell at her and tell her to get off, she just looks at you with her big, innocent, crazy eyes. Oh well.


So I am working like mad on my mom's sweater. I am almost to the end of yarn ball #3, and there are 11 balls of yarn required for this project, so I am guessing that I am about 20% done. I am so proud!
This color isn't very accurate:



This color is, though. Stubbles is looking at the sweater with such disdain! Yes, she is on the bed again. Notice that she is on the sheet now. I guess I need to make my bed so she won't lay on the sheets. Or I could stop pandering to a small hairy mammal and shut my door to keep her out. Guess which one I will do? Make the bed.

This sweater is getting pretty heavy, and is so big that I can't stretch it out on the needles. It kind of looks like a wadded mess, huh? I am to the part where it says: "Knit at least 3 rows of garter stitch, knit until the sleeves almost meet under your arms..."
Although next week will be full of knitting time as I only have 1 day of class and then 2 finals the rest of the week, I will not be able to work on this. I won't see my mom again until next Sunday, the 13th, when she comes to Little Rock to see the Nutcracker ballet with me. I really need to see if the sleeves "almost meet" under her arms. Dammit.


I guess I will start a hat for her. She requested one, and I wanted to give her one more small knit. If I finish the hat before Sunday (and I likely will) I guess I will have to cast on the Firestarters for myself. Oh no! What a tragedy! :)

For my sister.

So my sister was asking me on Facebook: when am I going to post another blog?? Right now, dear sister.

This year I decided that, due to a low level of funding, that everyone will be recieving hand knit gifts this year for Christmas. That, and the fact that I am so sick of buying and selling that I could loose my cookies. It probably doesn't help that I work in a store that sells things that are completely unnecessary, but people spend inordinate amounts of money on every week. Of course, those are the people paying my bills so let me stop while I'm ahead.

Anyway, most of the gifts that are done are my sister's gifts, so there will only be sneak peaks for you, Jamie.

I have finished a pair of felted slippers for my mom, they are called Fuzzy Feet from Knitty Winter 2002. I always knit her slipper/socks, but everytime I knit them in acrylic they would wear out really fast. I knit some for her in wool, and she caught them on a piece of stripping between her carpet and linoleum and now has a hole in them (this womas is really accident prone). In exasperation, I tried to think of what to do....and then I was reading some of Yarn Harlot's back postings, and she was making Fuzzy Feet. I thought to myself, BINGO.

Try to snag these, mom. Or wear them out in the next decade. They are felted bulky wool, as you can see they stand up by themselves.

My mom's other gift will be a cardigan, the February Lady. I was knitting on it, and kind of messed up the first buttonhole, but it was still a hole. I came to the second buttonhole, and tried really hard to get that one right. A few rows later, I realized that not only had I screwed up the second buttonhole, but it wasn't even a hole. As this is my first sweater, and a gift, and a gift for my mom, and I am kind of a perfectionist about my knitting, I am frogging back to the row of the first buttonhole. I will get to that as soon as I finish my sister's last gift, which I only need another hour or two to finish. I may even finish tonight! I won't have any pictures up since obviously she reads this blog, but I will post them soon on Ravelry, which she does not have access to. Ha ha Jamie, I told you that you should have joined Ravelry!

To end, here is something Sylvia and I had for dinner recently. Mashed potatoes with vegan butter, kale sauted in olive oil and chopped garlic, and autumn latkes from the Veganomicon. Yum!