In which I spend my birthday money on yarn again

Ah, birthday yarn money.

Remember when I got that Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn?

http://punkknit.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html

Good times.

This year I got a gift certificate to kpixie.com. I got some Skinny Dyed from Blue Sky Alpacas in this midnight-blue-almost-black and Zodiac cotton from Karabella in cherry red (looking a little pinker than life here).

The elephant incense burner is from friends. I have been feeling the green this year, and something about elephants is appealing right now. Wisdom and patience. Things to work on.

Anyway, the blue is for Camilla by Kate Gilbert:

And the red is for the Wallis cardigan in Summer Interweave:

Yes, I know I have lots of cherry red sweaters and cherry red yarn. But I don't have any cherry red cotton yarn or sweaters.

Given my history of eternal frogging, the sweaters I have picked for the yarn are, well, frankly just ideas. Drapy cardi for the red, pullover with little stitch patterns for the blue. I am already worried about how the sleeves will look on the Wallis cardigan (linebacker?), but I'll cross that bridge when I sew it in and try it on.

What else is going on this year of the big 31? Trying to publish, not perish, as usual.

And Arthur loves roast chicken:

Finishing

I really need to do something about getting flash card reader so I can post pictures. I finished three lovely pairs of socks, two hats, and have just begun a Baby Surprise Jacket.
All gifts. I need amazing-in progress photos of the BSJ.

But, considering my extreme number of works in progress and constant frogging, I don't even believe myself that I finished all that stuff.

Discipline

I'm (mostly) knitting presents right now. I've got some cute socks just finished and on the needles. Two of these pairs are in my beloved Mountain Colors Bearfoot, which is now being carried at my LYS. In the Loop is officially perfect.

Of course, I also started a new cardigan for myself. IK Tangled Yoke (Eunny Jang). For a change I'm making it in the specified yarn, because the gorgeous red color it comes in jumped into my lap while I was choosing Bearfoot colors. I will have to do short rows on the bust, and I'm nervous because it could result in having to do that cabled part over many times. Perhaps I should go top-down, but I've already knit one sleeve in order to check the gauge and sagginess of the yarn. Something about the texture suggests to me it will grow during wear.

I have not one, but two sweater disasters from this summer. It's been long enough that I can own up to it now, with pictures. I did learn from "Sweater Design in Plain English" what the problems were though. It seems I will have to get a lot more comfortable with short rows.

Most Beautiful . . .

Day EVER.

80 degrees, not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky, with a fresh, cool breeze blowing. And I got to eat lunch outside with friends.

Perhaps the horrible August was just to make sure we could appreciate the beauty of today.

Fall Again

Well, it was the hottest August on record, which was a more than a little harsh for our first summer. On the hottest day, we had a flat tire leaving work.

We really like it here (even though we are planning a trip north for next August). People very friendly, affordable if anywhere can be for a grad student and a first-year postdoc. We have our favorite places to eat and a weekly happy hour with friends. Tuesday is our third wedding anniversary.


Have been busy, but things are going okay. Lots to learn, and never enough time in a day. Get the figets, start a new knitting project, don't finish. I'm on a quasi- yarn diet. Mostly it means I buy books.

Arthur is now 1 year old, and has been successfully toilet-trained. This picture is from just before he completed his training. You can see the last ring of the CitiKitty with litter in it. It really just gave him something to scratch at. Now, even that's gone and there's no more litter being tracked over our apartment.

This picture also shows off his beautiful markings.

I've just started an account over at Ravelry. I'm very excited about being able to queue projects that interest me and keep track of my stash. Sure, I could do it on a spreadsheet, but it's not as fun. It's linked here, so who knows where I will keep track of projects should I ever finish any. It's hard to get motivated to knit when it's 107 plus heat index.

A Post-Doctoral Post

One week ago today . . . I became Dr. Punctuated Knitter.

In the meantime, the whole winter disappeared, and part of the spring. I took an official-must-not-work-at-all four days off before my new job started and spent some time looking at the lovely blossoms all over Columbia and catching up on sleep. I realized that it's hard to take four days off. I had forgotten, but I like to work. Having one project somewhat completed and not started yet on a new one, I did get a chance to do some Thinking About Biology, and that was good. I think while I knit. Usually, it's just planning/worrying about what needs to happen next in the mundane day-to-day sense, but this time I did get to think about some more big picture questions.

And I bought post-doctoral silk at my LYS. I have not had 100% silk before, so I thought this was a good occasion. I am officially on a yarn diet since packing up the stash and realizing how large it is, but this doesn't count. It's my present to myself, and I wasn't going to use my binge on just any old wool. It would be like blowing your diet on Hershey's Kisses. Good, but if if you're going to go, go all the way. I'm making a Clapotis. I will get back into documenting my projects as I'd planned for this blog, as I get back into a regular post-thesis life (that is, the having of a life).

I also got "Fitted Knits" by Glampyre Stephanie Japel, whose work I always admire, and "No Sheep for You" by knitty's Amy Singer. There were a ton of patterns in "Fitted Knits" that I liked, and several I can make with yarn already in my stash (yay!). "No Sheep for You" had a couple patterns I liked, but I really bought it for the overview of non-animal-hair yarns, which was excellent.

Here is my spring and summer knitting goal list:
1. Work my way through any UFOs I actually intend to finish
(frog, re-ball and donate or stash yarn from those I won't)
2. Christmas gift socks
3. Play with dying sock yarn
4. Finish presents for former co-workers
5. Use leftovers to learn Continental knitting (felting project with swatches?) and learn two-handed fair isle

I learned from last summer's heat--except for #1 none of these goals involve a lapful of wool.


In the meantime, Arthur is putting on some needed weight and looks healthier and has more energy. He is snoozing happily next to me on the couch. He likes to be with us all the time. We had a good time napping together on my days off. I'm so thankful he was rescued from Animal Control. He's a wonderful kitty. I get so upset thinking about him there in a cage waiting for the end, but he will never have to go through that again. At least we can give one cat a home for the rest of his life. And all my knits will now feature the occasional fine, orange hair knit in!

Who's a good kitten? Who's a good kitten?

Arthur is doing excellently. He earned his free range privs shortly after I posted, though he wasn't 100% comfortable exploring the apartment by himself until today. He's a good box user but a messy eater. Good thing we bought the kitty placement. We are working on encouraging him to use his scratching post. He spent most of the last two days at my feet, or sitting halfway between N and me. Right now he is sitting against me on the couch washing his face. If one of us gets up he follows us around, partly out of curiousity but also I think partly out of clinginess. He wants lots of attention, which is okay because just now we are home a lot. It is great that he already is comfortable with us and doesn't feel the need to hide all day, but I hope he will soon realize that he is here to stay and if we leave we'll come back. Poor baby, without a home for so long.

He is also wearing his collar and tags now. I wanted him to get used to them as soon as possible. Especially since he's at a very quick age for dashing out doors. He's going to be entirely indoors, so I hope he never needs his tags, but safety first, and I think he looks dapper with his blue collar.