Taking stock

I’ve been thinking about it lately, and I’ve decided that a knit blog per se isn’t really the right thing for me. For one, I don’t get as much knitting done as I’d like to; and for two, I feel like a lot of far more intelligent knitters have far more intelligent things to say about knitting than I do. I was complaining about this to my friend one day, telling her about how all I do is just post pictures of what I’m knitting on here and don’t really have much to contribute techniques wise or anything. Most of the time I’m too busy to even update (thank you, college). So then she said to me, “Why don’t you just get a tumblr?”

PERFECT SENSE! I feel like a tumblr is much less obligatory than an actual blog is. It’s like the Twitter of blogging and pictures. And then when I actually have something to say, I’ll say it, instead of feeling like I need to fill up this — whatever this is — with something, anything!

And so, dear handful of readers, you can follow me on my tumblr. Predictably, I am knitticusmaximus. I think you’ll notice that nothing’s up. Yet! ‘Till then, see ya.

What I dream about when I knit stockinette…

Cables.

Lace.

COLOR!

Coming soon…

A blog post. About a sweater and two pairs of socks. Really.

REALLY! I PROMISE!

Funky hats

Lately I’ve gotten on this funky hat kick. I used to not be so much of a hat person. It’s got something to do with how regular hats don’t really look very good on me. Top hats? Nope. Fedoras? Not a chance. Beanies? Maybe. However, I have discovered one thing. This hat looks fantastic on me. It is, in a word… funky. And I’m in love with it. I wear it pretty much every day that I don’t want to wash my hair, and it hides my hair for me! How awesome is that, huh?

I will admit, I do get some pretty funky hat hair. But that happens, I guess.

I guess what I’ve been trying to get around to is that I want to knit myself a very funky hat. I’m thinking something along the lines of the Scrappy Scarf (Rav), except just in plain stockinette and probably without so many color changes… considering I’ve got about seven colors to work with:

Some of the yarn I’m working with are scraps of former projects, some not. I also get to work with some bent straights because I don’t have some size 3 circs/dpns. Woo! Always a fun day over here. But it’ll work out fine. I made a beret with some straights once and it turned out okay. Right? Right.

(P.S. I don’t know what happened to the socks. No clue. It’s very strange.)

Thoughts on a Nutkin

(Or, “I swear I’m alive, guys”)

So, I’m alive. Really. I just kind of took a hiatus from life for a few weeks and stayed in bed to be cuddled by my boyfriend (he’s really good for that kind of stuff. A keeper). Some other stuff happened other than my stepmother passing away, none of it good, and so staying in bed seemed like a good idea. I didn’t even knit! Gasp. I know. But I am knitting now.

I’ll knit the Monkey socks some other time. When thinking of what to knit, my mind jumped to socks… like it always does. In any case, I thought of my languishing Self-Imposed Sock Club and the February socks. Middle of the month, two weeks… seems like a good time frame for a busy college student to complete a pair of reasonably low-stress socks.

Except, well, these socks aren’t as low-stress as I thought. There seems to be problems with the sock biasing a lot, and the knitted-on hem that is the cast on edge is… troublesome, to say the least. I’ve been thinking of making modifications to the sock, like substituting the knitted-on hem cuff for a normal ribbed cuff, substituting the yarn-overs for a m1 instead, and using just a normal heel flap for the heel instead of the short-row heel that Nutkin calls for. Oh, and also… the purls. Ugh. The pattern has a purl stitch at either end of the lace motif and it’s causing ladders in my knitting like crazy! I’ve been thinking of just knitting the purls and seeing what happens.

So, in essence… taking just the lace motif and changing everything else on the sock.

I have to say, though, the knitted-on hem is the coolest thing ever. I hate ribbing, I really do, and the hem FIXES that. I guess you’ll know what I’m going to do when I do.

Well, maybe not

Looks like the Self-Imposed Sock Club around here might be a flop right on its first month. I’m certainly not going to be able to get the Monkey socks done by, oh… Monday? It’s not happening. I’m not even done with my aunt’s Blackrose socks. It’s mostly because I don’t like the way the yarn feels, but also equal parts college stress.

And it doesn’t look like it’s going to be any better, because I found out this past Wednesday that my stepmother passed away. So I’m home for the time being, helping my father and looking after my sister while he and my grandmother get everything straightened out. It was completely unexpected and struck very quickly, and all of us are in shock. My friend is a saint — she drove all the way from our hometown down to my university to pick me up and take me home (a four hour drive just one way), and I didn’t even ask her to. Everyone has been exceedingly helpful and wonderful and understanding during this time.

I’m going to knit her a pair of socks, methinks, in that beautiful Seattle colorway from Misti Alpaca. It’s a lovely yarn that’s every color of the rainbow, except it’s nice and muted, not garish. Well, you’ve seen the pictures. Hopefully these will get done because they’re zombie knitting and I’m in love with the yarn. I purposefully picked the best of what I had from my sock yarn for her.

I’ll be back at school on Sunday evening, however, and I’m going to try and start knitting a whole bunch again. I realized a few days ago that since I’ve been back I’ve barely knit a stitch. Yuck.

Around here

I haven’t been knitting… and here is why.

1. I got a boyfriend. He takes up my time.
2. New classes this semester are DRHGLDFKGKWHATTHEFUCK.
3. My Spanish homework just mindfucked me.

BUT. I will be knitting… and here is why.

1. My aunt sent me another care package last night. It was great, as usual. I feel like a horrible, horrible person for not completing her socks on time and so… I gotta get it done. I told her I’d have them done this weekend.

START YOUR ENGINES

Nada.

It’s what I got. Nothing, nil, zero, rien, zip, zilch, nada.

This weekend should have been a flurry of knitting and finished objects, and this blog post brought to you on a lovely snowy Tuesday afternoon should have contained the Blackrose socks. But, alas. For some reason I can’t comprehend, I didn’t knit a stitch this weekend. Or yesterday.

Why, do you ask, should this weekend have been a flurry of knitting? I spent (roughly) eleven hours in various buses. Even non-knitters know that this is primo knit time. And yet… nothing. I just sat there like a schlep and listened to music and napped.

But maybe tomorrow I’ll have charming pictures of my university in the recent snowfall for you guys.

Homeward bound

A pseudo-photo essay by Yours Truly. (Or, conversely: “Comments on socks and why I don’t want to knit them right now”)

As of Monday night, I found myself pleased in a very sort of hostile, dominating way on finishing Ryan’s socks. I already knew that after I finished his socks that it would be immediately onto another pair of socks for my aunt, because she sends me amazing care packages and to not give her something for Christmas would be an atrocity. Except… I really do not want to be knitting socks right now.

So, Tuesday morning, I had this:

and this:

As much as you and I would both like to believe, that suitcase there isn’t chock full of yarn. I wish it was. Instead, only the top is full of yarn. But I can assure you, as that suitcase was stuffed to the brim when I was making my way towards New Jersey, it’s a miracle at all that I managed to fit everything I came with and MOAR YARN into the little red bag of death for my return trip home. (Did you notice the blog’s new slogan? Better living through MOAR YARN! We should all have MOAR YARN.)

Soon after, I found myself sitting at the Philadelphia International Airport (the magical land where 31 comes before 25… don’t even get me started on that place, I have so many bad things to say about it) with this:

and this:

(I have just now realized that this is a very terrible picture because it’s blurry. My apologies. However, the color of the yarn is extremely accurate. I would take a better picture, but… I [accidentally?] left the sock at my sister’s house today after babysitting my nephews.)

(There are many parenthetical remarks today.)

As I began working on this sock, the Blackrose sock, I was thinking many things:

1. I was tired of knitting socks.
2. I want to knit lace and cables (Royale and Laminaria, specifically).
3. Jojoland Melody, the yarn I’m currently using, has a love hate relationship with me.
4. Knitting socks right now was tedious.
5. Blackrose is a lovely pattern and goes quickly.
6. I WANT TO KNIT SOMETHING OTHER THAN SOCKS.

The socks are actually going swimmingly, however. The lace pattern is easy, quick, and when you think about one needle of lace and then seven needles of stockinette, it’s the perfect blend of Zen and Work. It would really be a much better experience for me if I hadn’t just knit a pair of socks.

Can you tell I’m suffering from project tedium?

In other news, I really want a ball winder. And books on how to dye yarn.

An unexpected development

I suddenly want to start dyeing my own yarn. I’ve got the hots for color, and I want to MAKE IT HAPPEN. Starting with sock yarn, because sock yarn is the most interesting.

H’oo boy. This is going to be quite the adventure… I can already tell.