I have seen the future, and in it I am a crazy cat lady

So, with that in mind, I thought I'd get a head start on my Crazy Cat Lady-hood with this post. Because, guys? I'm kind of an over-achiever and I really enjoy getting head starts.

Now I had this epiphany earlier when I was working on Tamar's monkey socks, which are coming along quite nicely:

Look how much I got done at the psych conference! I finished the first one and then got all the way through the leg of the second one. See, I'm not usually the kind of girl that knits during events. I've never knitted in class, and typically reserve my public displays of knitting to airplanes and movie theaters. But, I was totally zonked for a lot of the conference, and ended up taking my knitting with me to the symposiums The repetitve nature of knitting helps me focus sometimes, and also kept me awake.

The conference, by the way, went well. I dressed like a fancy-schmancy adult, and my poster was well-received. I think I may have even networked a little bit, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm new to this kind of thing.

"But," you ask, "how does being a young, professionally dressed, psychology-conference-attending go-getter make you destined for a life of Crazy Cat Lady-hood?"

Good question, dear reader. I'm destined because this has been the highlight of my week so far:
Yes, the sight of my cat grooming Tamar's sock set me all a-tizzy today and I took a bajillion pictures of it. Jon looked at me like I was crazy. This cat, though, she's something else. Every morning I have to find all the skeins of yarn and single handknit socks she stole from my knitting basket in the wee hours of the night in a haze of catnip and good taste. In all honesty, she's kind of a klepto with some major drug dependency issues.

And because every Crazy Cat Lady has to have multiple cats, I give you Fatty:
Who is apparently embarking on a career as a bookend. Is it coincidence that he's chosen this esteemed occupation just as his namesake has applied to library science programs? You decide!

Oh, for the love of sweet Moroccan mint tea...

Ok, first I'm really sorry about the delay, but let me tell you, grad school is hard. Not like oh-man-I-wish-I-didn't-have-to-study-for-this-midterm hard, but dear-god-in-heaven-why-can't-I-ever-finish-working-before-2AM hard. And I'm not good at existing on less than nine hours of sleep. So, I've essentially been a zombie for the last week or so. Zombies have no brains. And you can't write a knitting blog without brains, ask anyone.

Now back to the point. Why does my boyfriend pick the least attractive yarn in the store every single time!? Case in point, the local yarn store was having an awesome sale, so I forced Jon to drive me there. As a reward for the chauffering and waiting patiently as I browsed with glee, I let him pick out some yarn for himself. So, he grabs a couple of skeins of Rowan Harris tweed and demands a hat. This is as far as I got with it:
Now, it's clear from his deranged, unfocused grinning that he adores this yarn, but look at it! Look at those terrible colors! Does it remind you of something?
Vomit perhaps? Rowan refers to the colors as 'lewis grey' and 'thatch'. I refer to them as 'hideous sweatpant gray' and 'sick kitten.'

But, there is good news! Have y'all heard about the psychological concept of flow? Now, I try not to delve in to psychology too much since this is a knitting blog, but bear with me. Flow experiences are times when you're doing something you really enjoy and time disappears. We've all had this happen, right? You get really immersed in something and BOOM! It's an hour later.

Well (shockingly enough), I've had flow experiences with knitting. See?
Pretty! I finished up the Bayerische socks a couple of days ago. And I totally flowed right through the second one. I was just knitting and reading the chart and knitting and reading the chart and knitting....until the wee hours of the morning. But they are totally worth it. Check out this closeup:
And this one!
Yarn - Louet Gems Pearl (100% wool, 185 yards) in citrus orange
Pattern - Eunny's Bayerische socks. So much fun to knit, in a weirdly masochistic way.
Needles - 29" size 1 Susan Bates quicksilver circular. The only substantial modification I made to the pattern was going up a needle size, as the pattern is written for a size 6 foot and mine hovers somewhere between an 8 and 9 (but, curiously, not an 8 1/2...feet are strange).

You wanna know what else I have flow experiences with?
Statistics. Seriously. In the last weeks, I've been working on a couple of different projects that are in the data analysis stage. So, I'll head to the computer lab after class and plan to just run a couple of tests, shouldn't take me more than twenty minutes or so.....and realize that an hour and a half has just flown by and I've done maybe a half dozen MANOVAs complete with pairwise contrasts. And it's fun. As if there wasn't enough mounting evidence of my inherent, overwhelming dorkiness out there already.

Back to knitting. I've also started the socks for Tamar, my Other.
They're the Monkey socks from the current issue of Knitty. Since the yarn she picked out is just shy of sportweight and she has biggish feet for a girl, I'm knitting them on size 3's. And as glorious as knitting the Bayerische socks was, I'm enjoying the easy-to-memorize lace pattern and quick progress of the bigger gauge. I'm going to a psychology conference this weekend in Memphis, so I'll have some prime airplane knitting time to knock these little babies out.

I'll leave you with one more thing:
Moroccan mint tea! As many of you know, I studied abroad in Estonia and Morocco as an undergraduate, which fostered a love of tea. I got my taste in black teas from Eastern Europe and mint tea from Morocco. While in North Africa, I drank the mint tea at every meal, several times a day. For me, at least, it was an acquired taste because it's prepared with a truly amazing amount of sugar. Seriously, there's no sense of too sweet with this stuff, just not sweet enough.

I bought the teapot and dried mint and green tea for Jon. Despite the fact that the unmarked package of dried vegetable matter gave me some trouble going through customs, he never used it (bad taste in yarn and tea, that one), and I fell out of the habit of drinking it.

I've started drinking it again, though. Dani, Tamar, and I went to a hookah bar that served it at New Year's, which made me remember how good it was, and then I had it again at a tea party I went to last weekend. Jon also went to said tea party, and it was like he'd died and gone to heaven.

2 1/2 FO's

Check it out:
Jon's mom's scarf is done! We went to see Children of Men last Saturday (which I absolutely loved, by the by) and I finished it in the theater. Born in a movie, bound off in a movie, full cycle.
Yarn - 2 skeins of Patons Upcountry (100% wool, 78 yards) in deep steel blue. As a rule of thumb, I think that a good length for a scarf is roughly the height of the person who'll be wearing it. I used up both skeins with nothing left over, and it ended up being about 5' long (just a wee bit shorter than myself). As a general rule, I think that a good scarf length is roughly the height of the itended recipient (golden ration and all that), and Jon's mom is only a few inches taller than me, so it worked out ok.

Pattern - My own. Though, it's not exactly innovative or groundbreaking. It's a modified 2 x 2 rib with plain knit ribs alternating with twisted minicables. A left twist was made by knitting through the back of the second stitch, then knitting through the front of the first stitch, then pulling both of the needle together. A right twist (obviously enough) was made by knitting through the front of the second stitch, then through the back of the first stitch, and then pulling both off the needles together. So, I cast on 20 stitches and knit every row like this:

k2, p2, left twist, p2, k2, p2, right twist, p2, k2, p2

Needles - size 11 bamboo straights

In other news, I've completed one Bayerische sock and started the second:
I'm very attached to the completed one and have taken to wearing it around the apartment with my other foot bare and lonely.

And, I didn't post about this earlier, but guess what came in the mail last week...
....more sock yarn and knitting books! I got freaked out about the start of the new semester abd splurged. The take? Folk Shawls, the Vogue stitchionary of cables, 2 skeins of artyarns ultramerino 8 in various shades of red, 2 skeins lorna's laces in black pearl, 3 skeins of artyarns supermerino in various shades of green, and a skein of dk weight alpaca silk. Oh, retail therapy, how I love thee!

Free pattern is up!

The pattern for Mandy's bag is now available, totally free! To get to it, click the link on the sidebar under "Free for your needles." That will take you to the page the pattern is on. I've also converted the word document into a pdf file, but blogger is being kind of gunchly and won't let me upload it. So, if you'd prefer the printable PDF, Email me and I'll gladly send it to you.

In other news, I've started the Bayerische socks:
So pretty! I've been eyeing these socks for a while now, and was pretty daunted by them. But, Eunny in all her glory has written the clearest pattern ever, and they're actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

See? Even the fat, slow kitten can do it!

Year in review

So, I know it's been 2007 for about a week now, but this is the first chance I've had to really tally up everything. So how's 2006 been for me? Pretty eventful, I'd say. In knitting terms, I'm still a wee baby, as I started knitting in Novmember 2005. Just counting from January 2006, here's the final tally:

• I made about 10 hats (some for me, most for others)
• 4 scarves (1 for me 1 for each professor who wrote me reccommendation for grad school)
• 2 Clapotis (1 for me, 1 for my mom)
• 5 bags (2 for me, 3 as Christmas presents)
• 7 pairs of socks (3 pairs for me, 3 for others, and 1 tiny pair that will never fit me unless I ind my feet)
• 3 pairs of armwarmers (all Christmas presents)
  
• 6 nautiloids (for me and my friends)
• 2 cat toys (a wonton and a blue crab of my own design)
  
• 1 steering wheel cover and matching pocket for a car I no longer have
• And, last but not least, my very first sweater

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I think I'm probably most proud of the sweater, since I was pretty convinced is was going to take me a good two or three years to work up to it. It did take me about 6 months to finish, though.

It was a pretty good year in non-knitting terms, too. I graduated college with a ridiculously intricate honors project under my belt and started grad school in my chosen field. I'm somewhat financially independent, and feel a little more like an adult. I drove around the country all summer with a finicky car that nearly stranded me in the vast, empty openness of Wyoming. I gained some weight and lost some weight. All in all, it was stressful and busy, but productive and ego-boosting at the same time.

And now for pictures of current projects!

_

I'm about halfway through a scarf I'm making for Jon's mom. Basically, it's a modified 2 x 2 rib with straight ribs alternating with twisted ribs. The twisted ribs are mirrored so they twist towards each other, which I think looks pretty cool (see in the closeup?). Because every row is the same, it's perfect mindless zombie knitting. In fact, the day after Jon and I got back from New York, we went to go see Apocalypto and I came up with the pattern in the dark during the movie. Ultimately, this was more satisfying than the movie itself, which mostly consisted of one dude running through the jungle being chased by other dudes.

I also started the Shedir hat a couple of days ago with this awesome wool and angora yarn I got from the Knitter's Anonymous destash. I had high hopes, but the yarn is too fuzzy and is completly obliterating the cable pattern. I'm going to frog it and try and do something that fits the yarn better. There's not that much, so I'll probably make a hat. Maybe something lacy? Or beaded? Who knows.

Meanwhile, I keep plugging away at the wee braids bolero. I'm just about halfway done with the body. Progress has been kind of slow because I hate the needles I'm using. I'm working with a 16" size 9 bamboo circular, and the yarn is sticking to the needles like glue. It also doesn't help that the stitches are all squished together because my bust size is considerably larger than 16".

Vacation's Over

But, man, was it eventful. I'll spare you the play-by-play of my Christmas trip home as that kind of thing is never nearly as interesting to anyone else as it is to you. Lots of knitterly things happened, though, so I'll try and break this post down into easily digestable nuggets.

Part I: In Which The Gifts Reach Their Intended Owners
The bevy of hand-knitted gifts I passed out this year were very well received indeed. I've grown kind of attached to the, so it was sad to see them go.

I barely made it home from the airport before Leila (my sister) insisted that I give her the much anticipated cat hat. Even though it was the day before her birthday, I caved, and she proceeded to take a bajillion pictures in it and took it off only for sleeping. Isn't she photogenic? She's the only one in the family who is.
Sam demanded her bag the same day. So she got her Christmas present early, but was so enthusiastic about it that I was unable to stay strong and say no. In fact, all three bags were huge hits all around, and each recipient was totally convinced that hers was a perfect match and the coolest, which made me feel all warm inside.
My mama loved her Clapotis, too. Even though I made fun of the colorway I'd picked for her and described it as reminiscent of cat vomit.
Here's Mandy's bag, which was another big hit. I did submit the pattern for publication at Knitty, but it wasn't selected. Oh well, I'll put the pattern up here as soon as I get a chance, so no harm done. I also heard from Dani, who got the purple armwarmers I mailed her, that her family was in love with them. So it all balances out in terms of my ego.

Part II: In Which The Author Spreads the Joy of Knitting Like an Infectious Disease
One of my favorite things about knitting is the immediate sense of community and camaraderie it gives you. I remember feeling suddenly plugged into this whole awesome network of people, even though all I'd managed to was a terrible acrylic garter stitch scarf with so many dropped stitches not even a hobo would wear it. So, I find myself wanting to teach anyone and everyone how to knit. I continued my personal quest to convert my entire social network into knitters one person at a time over Christmas with mixed results.

This is Lisa. She's awesome, and one of two people I still talk to from high school. She was down in Texas for Christmas on break from Sarah Lawrence. I taught her to knit last January, and even made her a fancy schmancy knitting handbook, but her lack of adequate knitting partners has stalled her. But she's got potential. In this picture, she's rifling through my (totally uninteresting and cash strapped) wallet. Just before this, she was pretending to knit my sock for me.




Underneath her is Jon, my boyfriend, who's modeled several goodies for this site. I've tried teaching him to knit a couple of times, convinced that he'd love it and we'd curl up by the fireplace we don't have and knit each other heartfelt scarves. Other people have tried too. Our friend Van plopped him down over Thaksgiving with a ball of yarn and some needles, resulting in the worst swatch ever. But, alas, I don't think it is meant to be. He says he doesn't understand string and his hands are too big. He may be right, but I don't think I'm quite ready to give up the ghost yet.


But, Sam and Leila took to knitting like ducks to water! I brought the remaining of the apple green Malabrigo leftover from the Glaistig hat and armwarmers down with me and taught them how to make a totally uninterested square of stockinette fabric. I foolishly assumed that these would just be wonky first-timer swatches that would languish in a bag somewhere having fulfilled their purpose as a learning experience. I totally underestimated them. Leila has plans to sew buttons onto hers to make it into a kicky neckgaurd/choker thing
and Sam had me sew the ends of her completed swatch together and is pictured sporting it as a headband. She was really excited about it at the time, so I'm not really sure why she looks like someone ran over her dog in that picture.

Sam got even more ambitious and after a quick and somewhat ill-fated trip to Wal-Mart (I had gone in search of a Mac compatible computer game, but it was in vain) where she picked up some needles, cheap yarn, and the goofiest learn-to-knit book ever, started a snazzy ribbed scarf eventually destined for her boyfriend.

I am brimming with pride.






Part III: In Which Cpt. Knitpicky is Reunited with Her Knitting Crew

After Christmas, I flew up to New York to spend a few days with my awesome friends. True to form, we spent New Year's Eve holed up in Dani's house on Long Island playing board games. We're basically all set to join the AARP.

The tall one banging the pot lids together is Tamar, my Other. The short one in the hat banging her pot against my pot is Dani, my soul twin. These are two of my very favorite people, and nutured my love of knitting last year. Dani taught me how! Mad props to her.


I know I said I wouldn't babble on about non-knitting related things that aren't of any interest to anyone other than me, but we played this awesome game called Ticket to Ride. The object of the game is to build a railroad system connecting various European cities. It sounds simple, and starts off slow, but quickly gets really intense and vicious. Jon's grinning because he won this game. He drove up to New York from Maryland.




And, of course, Tamar, Dani, and I hit a yarn store. How could we not? We picked Dani up from the Jamaica train station in this really strange section of New York, and went to Smiley's Yarn Store. It had a decent selection of mostly acrylic stuff that wasn't terribly offensive, but the really weird thing was that it only accepted cash. The blue yarn is Paton's Up Country that I'm going to use to make a scarf for Jon's mom with. The pink yarn is Lane Cervinia sock yarn that Tamar picked out. I'm going to make her socks and she's going to knit me a pair of armwarmers with yarn I picked out in return. I'm psyched. We went back to Tamar's apartment and fell into the old knitting groove.

Part IV: In Which The Lonliness of Long-Distance Travel is Used to Produce Socks

Aren't they lovely? I started the cable twist socks on the flight home, and made the entire leg during the flight! They went really, really fast, and I think I finished them in four days. On Christmas, no less. And the best thing? I was able to crack the fit barrier. I finally made myself a pair of socks that fit properly and was to long in the foot or too wide. I can wear them with shoes!
Yarn - 1 skein of handpainted Zen Yarn Garden sportweight yarn (100% superwash merino, 260 yards) in the Blueberry Swirl colorway. It was a total impulse buy from Kpixie, and totally worth it. The colors are gorgeous and muted and flow into each other in a most attractive way.
Pattern - Hello Yarn's Cable Twist socks. I really made no major pattern adjustments. I cast on 49 stitches instead of 56 stitches to go down a size, and I kind of made up the toe and heel as I went along. Oh! And if you look closely at the bottom picture, you'll see that I picked the gusset stitches the pretty way. Grumperina's right, it really does look better. I really enjoyed this pattern. It was simply enough to zone out, but not boring, because I'm a sucker for twisted stitches. I think it shows off the yarn really well.
Needles - I worked the socks using Magic Loop (what else?) on size 3 addi turbos.

I also made a pair of Jaywalkers! I've had this yarn lying around since September, and I've been dying to use it. I started these at home, finished the first on the plane ride to New York, and finished the second on the drive back to Michigan.


I took this picture of the sunset somewhere along I-80 in Pennsylvania on the way back as I was knitting them. The sky matched the yarn perfectly! Coincidence? I think not.
Yarn - All Things Heather sock weight yarn (100% superwash merino, 330 yards) in Zenith, also from Kpixie. This yarn is awesome. The colors are so vibrant and the yarn is so bouncy. It striped perfectly on the leg in the zig-zag pattern stitch, but there's a bit of awkward pooling happening on the instep of one of them (it's happening on the sole of the other one, but that's conveniently hidden), and I'm not sure if it had to do with the tension changing because the sole is knit in stockinette or because the pattern calls for extra decreases in the gusset, resulting in fewer stitches being worked for the foot than for the leg, or some combination of both. But, I don't care. I love them just the way they are.
Pattern - The ubiquitous Jaywalkers by Grumperina. Again, I basically improvised the toe and heel, but other than that I made no changes. And they fit perfectly, just as well as the cable twist socks! This is such an addictive pattern, so I see why so many people out there in knitblogland have made three or four pairs. If I knit these again, I'll pick up a set of size 0 needles to make the ribbing fit better.
Needles - I used a 29" Susan Bates quicksilver size 1 circular. Nothing fancy, but not quite as nice as working on the Addis. The needles are also pointier than Addis and I have this weird little habit of pushing the tip of the needle down when I'm knitting, resulting in a teensy callous on my left index finger.

So that catches you up. Now that the semester's starting back up, I'll be taking refuge in knitting and blogging once again. And of course it helps that I have cable internet and don't have to deal with dial-up like I do at home.