I HATE GRAD SCHOOL

I wish I had more time to knit and learn to spin and actually have time to enjoy myself instead of feeling guilty every time I knit because I'm not doing other homework.

That is all.

Cheerier posts later this week.

Thank you.

I GOT MENTIONED!!

DUDE! I am SO excited about this. Actually probably a little more excited than I should be but still, really excited. Anyway, the woman who does "Handknit Heroes" the comic about knitting that I mentioned a few weeks ago, gave me a shout-out in her blog! WHOA! As for the comic, I read it, and it's pretty great so far. Not too much knitting and really fun and superhero-ey. I'm anxiously waiting the next installment :) [Ooh look! Screenshot! Which I know is tiny but I didn't want to bore you guys with only text]Started the purple hand warmers this morning. I'm using the same pattern as the ones I just finished but I'm going to make them a little shorter.

Yarn and Plans for Future Projects

Saturday night I went to sleep at 3.30. Sunday morning my body decided that 7.30 was a GREAT time to wake up *grumble grumble*. On the upside of that though, I was able to get to Michael's and pick up some stuff for future projects. I have the Felicity hat going on the needles now with the leftover Bernat Satin Bordeaux. I'm not sure if I have enough for the hat or who I want to have the hat if I finish it, we shall see. Mostly I just needed something to do Saturday night while I caught up on Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy. At Michael's I got some purple yarn for hand warmers for a friend, some beige yarn for the crocheted penis for the cowboy's friend and some glow in the dark yarn. I don't know what I'm going to make with it yet, though my boyfriend is pushing for a glow in the dark willie warmer :-P

With Thumbs We Are Complete

Finished the mitts!

And since I don't want to bore you with just a picture of the mitts, here are two pics of my roommate's cat in my bag of stash yarn (she climbed in there herself, I promise). For the record, as cute as she looks, she's psychotic, gets in the way of EVERYTHING and I really am not that fond of her.

Knit Fast Blog More

I just came across this little gem. While it looks like a great tool to have, I just can't get over the idea that it looks like a pack of birth control pills. Maybe it's just me.

Knit all through 2+ hours of Retrieving Information class tonight. Pretty much did all of the body of the mitt with all the cabling. Wow, I have gotten much faster at knitting. AND the prof didn't get pissed at me for knitting in class, which is always good. As of now, just have to bind-off the second glove and then make thumbs on both.

Search and Siezes Are Bad for Your Mental Health

So far this week I have been incredibly productive, especially in comparison to the last two weeks. I think it's because I currently do not have a Search and Seize assignment hanging over my head (though I'm sure that will change in class tonight). For any of you out there who aren't in library school a Search and Seize is basically a bunch of obscure reference questions that we have to answer without the help of librarians or Wikipedia (which I totally agree with, Wikipedia is evil). END TANGENT. I managed to finish one glove, except for the thumb, and start the second glove. Also, I think I can see how different cast on methods affect how the piece looks.

Apparently, Being Productive Slows Down Time

So today, for about the first time in two weeks I was pretty much productive all day. Since I finished a fair amount of homework this week I treated myself to re-watching Juno since we have to watch it for my Resources for Young Adults class. While I watched I worked on the first of a pair of hand warmers for my friend the teacher. They're on size 7 dpn's and I'm using Bernat Satin in the color Bordeaux. The teacher is allergic to animal fibers so I get to use cheap acrylic guilt free! I'm calling them Big Apple Gloves because the teacher is moving to NYC in the fall and that's probably when she'll get to use them. They don't do much good in Baltimore now, there are benefits to being south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Between Projects Lull

So now that I have pretty much finished everything that I have to finish, I'm trying to decide what to do. I have a number of intended projects lined up including a hat for my mom, arm warmers for a friend, a hat for another friend and a knitted or crocheted penis (and I'm not going to link to that since I guess it would be NSFW and I'd have to link to a different pattern than what I want to use) for a friend of the cowboy's.

My other option is to pick up the sweater again and try and do some more of that. Here's what's done so far.This is the back of the sweater. These are the two front pieces (clearly they're not finished yet). This is all the frogged yarn from my first attempt at the front pieces.

Today's Post: Totally Useless Knitted Items

The first is what was meant to be an entire scarf, but I got bored and finished it off when it was pretty short. It's entrelac (which is a technique I couldn't explain to you if I tried) made with alpaca yarn. I suppose I could turn it into a nice neck warmer, but I need buttons or a nice shawl pin for that to work. The rest of the alpaca from this I think I'm going to use to make Jared Flood's Turn-a-Square Hat.

Next up is something that I did mostly as an exercise in keeping my hands busy. It's just a stockinette tube and I have no idea what to do with it.

Maybe it's a goofy stocking cap?

Or a bulky neck warmer?

Oh look! Now I'm Bazooka Joe!

Or perhaps an Eskimo hood?

Anyway, in the spirit of these utterly useless knitted things, I am linking to Craftastrophe, which is a hysterical blog of crafts that no one should have ever, EVER made.

More Comics and Knitting

Mostly because I don't feel like typing out a whole bunch about what I'm doing or not doing. Also, I am a HUGE fan of The Devil's Panties by Jennie Breeden (that's where these comics come from).
This last one I'm going to guess was inspired by the Fishy hat in the Winter 2008 issue of Knitty.

An Explination

Recently someone pointed out to me that they know I like to knit, but never see me wear any knitted items. The truth of the matter is that I actually don’t own a single sweater. I started knitting a sweater in February (2008) and have yet to finish it. At this point, there is a back piece and halves of the two front pieces. I keep putting it down though because it gets boring. I like to FINISH projects. That’s why I’ve made a bunch of hats and fingerless gloves. Little projects that I can finish in a reasonable amount of time. Also, when you make bigger projects you need more yarn for it, which adds up very quickly. I am a poor grad student and I would rather shell out a few bucks here and there instead of a ton all at once for something that isn’t going to be done soon. Additionally, after reading about ease (fit) of garments in Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation I realize that the sweater I am making is probably going to be too small (unless I lose weight before it’s finished). I also don’t have a lot of knitted things because I give them to friends and my sisters. I’ve made multiple hats and such for multiple friends and some dishcloths for one of my former coworkers (which we will NOT discuss, knitting dishcloths goes against my knitting beliefs). Actually, I’m getting to the point where I think I want to graduate school just so I can have more time to knit.
Here though, are some pictures of things I have made which I have kept for myself and actually wear. With the exception of the wig, that’s only a once or twice a year thing, and yes, there are two pictures of that mostly because I love the cowboy ;-)