Spring Break

Alright, so I finally get a break from school and I get sick straight off. It has been too bad, we went up to Vermont and watched the snowboarding half-pipe championships in Killington. I’m back in Wayland now, and haven’t been doing too much, which is actually pretty nice.  I’m trying not to think about getting back to school, or anything really.

I brought some new knitting with me.  I finally re-started the sock that I’d been having trouble with. It’s going nicely so far, but it’s hard to say if it will actually fit. At this point I’ve decided that it’s not worth it to stress, because I’ve done all the calculations, and if it doesn’t work, oh well.

And I’ve finally finished Alex’s fingerless gloves. She loves them, thank god. It’s a bit warm for them, but I don’t think that’s going to stop her. I think I’ve finally gotten over my knitting funk. It was good to slow down with knitting for a while, and I definitely think it elped with my schoolwork. I applied for a summer research experience at GW and won’t hear back until sometime in April. I definitely think I’ll be stress knitting, which is particularly unfortunate because I really want to start a sweater or something, but I decided that I wouldn’t buy any yarn until I knew that I was making money this summer. On the other hand, I found some leftover Red Heart yarn that’s perfect for making a hug box for Alex (the hug box from the Visa commercial)[edit: it's actually mastercard...]. I just have to find something to stuff it with. I saw online that other people have made it, and someone put it around a cardboard box, which I think is ridiculous, because what’s a hug box that you can’t hug?

Mirror Images

So I started a sock. And beyond the first 20 times I started it because I still hadn’t completely decided on what I was doing, it’s been going pretty well. So yesterday I turned the heel, with short rows, my personal favorite, and I actually managed to not make it pointy due to lots of cleverness by me. And today, as I continued on, I realized that for the leg part, I had somehow forgot an important purl stitch between my first and last pattern repeat. So now there is no gap between them, and it glares out at me every time I look at it. Unfortunately I don’t have the will to fix it and start the entire sock over again. And because of this, I must do the same mistake on the other sock. This is the unfortunate part about working with things in twos. Socks, gloves, even fronts and backs of sweaters. You must relive your error a second time, knowing full well that you’re doing something wrong.

With my lovely new paycheck I have decided that tonight I will order my pea coat yarn, and hopefully it will arrive by the time I come back from Pittsburgh this weekend. I’m still not sure what exactly I’ll be doing, other than knitting it in pieces, felting them, and sewing them together. I’ve been looking online at fitted pea coats, but unfortunately, I think the thing that would help the most is either an actual pea coat that I could look at in front of me, or a pattern to sew one. I think my friend might have a coat I could borrow, but other than that my options are to just wing it (as usual) or buy a pea coat and return it later.

I highly doubt that it will be done in time for the September 1st submission deadline for Knitty, but I can always hope. Getting into Knitty would definitely be the most amazing thing that’s happened in my knitting career.

Until my yarn comes in I will have to stick with my socks, which will most definitely be abandoned the minute I see the package. I’m also going to be getting some cool Gerifil Spaghetti yarn that looks crazy cool. Not quite sure what I’m gonna do with it, but I couldn’t pass up three dollar yarn that looked that cool. I definitely think I’m becoming a crazy stashing knitter, who will soon be stashing beyond her paycheck. So if you find out that I am living on the streets, take comfort in the fact that I am warmed by all my wonderful wool.

Visit #1

Ty’s been here for a few days, and it’s been pretty great. We haven’t done anything too exciting, but it’s good just to see him. Yesterday we went into Boston and walked along Newbury street and I saw this amazingly cute yarn shop. They had some of the softest yarn I’ve ever held. I just wish that I could’ve justified buying a forty dollar skein of yarn. But I think we’ll go in again before he leaves, and maybe we’ll find someplace that isn’t on Newbury street. Just being in the shop made me really want to work with some nicer yarns, and definitely get started on a bigger project.

I have an interview/visit for my internship on tuesday, and, if I get it, hopefully I’ll find out if it’s paid. if it is it will be awesome, because I won’t feel bad about spending half of my pay check on yarn, but if it’s not, I’m gonna have to devise a strategy to get money for yarn. I definitely won’t be able to survive the summer without new stash. Although I did remember a felted bag that I have the yarn for. And that must be done here, because of the need for a washing machine that opens on the top.

Ty leaves tomorrow, and I wont see him until the fourth of July. But I guess we’ll both be busy and before long the summer will be over. In the meantime my hands have really been needing something new, so I started the clapotis. I understand the concept of it, and I never would have thought of the twisted stitches to keep the edges near the dropped stitches tight. Once I get some money I’ll get my knitpicks, and maybe start some socks or a shawl.

Lonely

Everyone’s abandoned me this weekend. My brother’s gone back to Colorado, my parents are our condo for their anniversary (30!), aaaand, my phone died. Well, that might be because of the soup that got in it, when i accidentally dropped it in my bowl of soup. I’ve never broken any of my phones . So now I have to go buy a new phone. I guess everyone does this at least once, but I’m still kinda bummed, and feeling out of touch.

I finally finished one of my hats and it actually turned out well. Not quite what I was imagining when I started, but my projects rarely are. I’m still itching to get my needles into a bigger project, but that might have to wait for a while. I still have a few project in progress, and no job to bring in money for my stash. I wish i didn’t have a conscience that prevented me from buying lots of pretty yarn. I was thinking of a tank in a lavender. Maybe with I-cord straps that are gathered in the back… Now I just need someone to make it for. You’d think that people would be jumping at the chance to have personalized hand knits.

I went to the library and got some knitting books. Haven’t gone through many of them, but I tried to gab the ones that would teach me new things instead of just giving me useless patterns. I wish I was a normal knitter who was able to blindly follow patterns. Although from what I see on ravelry, designers aren’t that uncommon. It’s weird, cause I love knitting, and I love that so many other people knit, but at the same time it makes me less special. One of the books I got was Stephanie Pearl McPhee’s YarnHartlot. She’s such a good writer, and has so many anecdotes about her projects. I just wish that I could take my hobby that one step further to reach more people, and of course make some money off of it .

I’ve been looking for a job, still. I had to give up on a lab job, so now I’m just trying to find something local, with flexible hours. Nothing has come up so far, but I might take an Organic Chemistry course. I’m still not sure that it will transfer, but I guess if I have to take it again at GW, it will be a lot easier the second time. It would be nice to get it out of the way this summer, because then I could take bio classes like biochem and cell bio next semester, which would be awesome. The idea of graduating in three years has been sitting in the back of my head, and I just keep telling myself that it depends a lot on where Ty is with his work by then. It’s seems so far away, but I know that it will creep up on me really quickly. I guess if I just take it a bit at a time I’ll be alright. Stitch by stitch? Row by row? Or project by project? I guess it’s hard to keep perspective.