Jon's Birthday - Take 1

Today was Jon's 23rd birthday! I wanted today to be super-special and awesome for him, so I basically let Jon call the shots. I told him that we could do whatever he wanted. His wish was my command. True to form, we ended up celebrating this momentous occasion by sleeping in until 1 in the afternoon and then watching a lot of bad TV. Apparently, he just wanted a nice, relaxing mind-numbing day as opposed to a fun-filled one that would entail getting dressed and going out in public. The costs were just too great.

That's fine by me though. I feel that Jon and I are compliment each other in a lot of ways (I'm a compulsive planner, he flies by the seat of his pants; he loves to vacuum, I like making spreadsheets for our joint budget), but that one thing we have in common is that we're both extremely introverted. I don't mean introverted in the pop-psychology sense meaning that we're shy people who don't like to talk about themselves. Clearly that can't be the case since I'm blogging about myself, and I don't think anyone familiar with Jon's habit of getting drunk and dancing like a fool in order to be the center of attention would call him shy. We are not mousy, reserved people by any stretch of the imagination.

No, I'm talking about introversion in the classic Eysenckian sense. Eysenck conceptualized introversion and extraversion to be one's desired level of stimulation. Extroverted people need constant, high levels of stimulation. They tend to bore easily and become adrenaline junkies. The thought of bungie-jumping sounds awesome to them. Introverts, on the other hand, really can't handle that much stimulation. We're the kind of people who are perfectly content to spend our weekends curled up on the couch watching movies and find the urge to go sky-diving utterly incomprehensible. For me, a good day is one in which I do not have to change out of my sweatpants (and therefore leave my apartment). So, instead of going to a club or a bar or something cool and young and twentysomething-ish, the climax of Jon's birthday was this:

(sorry the picture's so blurry, but you couldn't really see the smoke with the flash on)

Yep. The high point was breaking out a fog machine that Tamar gave us at Jon's birthday party last year and blowing a couple of rounds of weird smelling smoke with it. That party, by the way, was arguably the best and lamest party ever. It essentially consisted of said fog machine, a lava lamp, and a bunch of really nerdy kids. But, Jon's declared this the "best birthday ever," which is what I was going for, so mission complete.

Well, almost. I've extended Jon's birthday to tomorrow as well because he hasn't gotten his presents yet. Because, you know, I've got the authority to do that sort of thing. I was uncharacteristically incompetent and waited until last Thursday to order said presents. I paid the extra money for faster shipping, but we slept through the delivery this morning, rendering the point moot.

Speaking of presents, I ironically got one in the mail today! My armwarmers from Tamar:

I picked out the yarn, though I can't for the life of me remember what it was, when I was visiting her in New York over Christmas. Apparently they've been done since before I even started her socks, but she didn't actually mail them to me until last week. They were worth the wait. She's the Armwarmer Queen. And I'm totally digging the swirly stitch pattern.

PS - notice the cyberpet on the sidebar? I've decided the blog needs a mascot. Who doesn't need a mascot? It's named after Dani, my Soul Twin because purple is her favorite color and penguins make her babble incomprehensibly with joy. I shit you not. I once saw her bounce up and down like an autistic child and lose her capacity for language while watching that part of Mary Poppins when the cartoon penguins sing and dance with Dick Van Dyke. Anyway, it's an homage to her. Try feeding it fish, it's fun. I promise.

Spring Break! Girls Gone....Lazy!

I'll get to SPRING BREAK in a second. First, guess who got their present.....


....Tamar the Other! She says they fit well and are much-appreciated. See her cat in the first picture? Sniffing her feet with that intensely inquisitive expression? That cat has a thing for feet.


See? She can't help herself. The first step is admitting you have a problem, Wuzzle.

Ok, back to SPRING BREAK!!!!! So what am I doing for SPRING BREAK, and why in god's name do I seem to keep hitting the caps lock? Well, dear reader, I am using the cap lock to denote my UNBRIDLED EXCITEMENT and doing ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING! I lied and told the professors I was doing research with that I was going to be out of town and that email was going to be spotty at best. Which, of course is patently untrue. But goddamit, I held focus groups and coded transcripts straight through Christmas break...which meant it was no break at all...which meant I'd been working non-stop for six months. So I thought a little deception was in order.

My real spring break plans are:

1. sit on couch until couch-sores develop
2. watch a lot of mindless TV
3. eat a lot of ice cream
4. knit until my hands turn into twisted, gnarled little claws

Man, this is gonna be sweet.

Even Dirty Commies Deserve Nice Hats

This weekend I went to a big socialist meeting for our national organization. Some of you out there, and by that I mean the three of you who aren't related to me, might not know that I've been a card-carrying member of a socialist organization since before I could legally vote. However, I grew up in a house where Trotsky and Lenin were well-represented in our home library, so it's not like anyone was surprised when I broke the news.

Anyway, those of you who are not at odds with the capitalist system may not realize how much these people can talk. This was a three-day meeting, with a full agenda. It takes them 15 minutes to basically state that they are anti-war in a fancy way (well, that's an exaggeration, but not much of one). Time limits mean nothing to them. We got up at 6:45 am to get there on time, stayed until 7:00pm, and then went out for drinks and more political ranting afterwards. I should also mention that I don't drink coffee and there were no other caffeinated beverages available. So, I turned to knitting to keep me awake and focused. Those that don't knit assume that we're not paying attention, but we know better. We know that the repetitive, unceasing motion keeps you from fidgeting, keeps you from boredom around hour 11, and has other good benefits. Such as my finished Shedir:


Unrelated, but like the dart board? My mom sent it to me in a totally unexpected Valentine's Day package. I hit the bullseye earlier today and refuse to let Jon remove it. I'm very proud of my successful darting.

Isn't she lovely? This hat conquered the conference. Initially, I (and the other two knitters who were there) were getting a lot of flack for it, and many friendly quips were thrown our way when people got up to speak (further showing the low regard time limits were held in). But, curiosity got the better of them. They'd walk by and look at it, and were struck by the simple beauty of the cables. And they'd touch it and say how soft the yarn was. By the end of the first day, they were generally interested in when it would be finished and whether I would knit them one too. You know what? I'm also quite fond of it.
Yarn - Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk (50% alpaca, 50% silk; 146 yards) in plum purple. This yarn is exquisite. Soft, and shiny, and it knits up into this amazing lightweight fabric that is remarkably fluid.
Needles - 34" size 3 addi turbos. So trusty.
Pattern - Shedir from the breast cancer special issue of Knitty. The only modification made was that I knit 3 repeats of the cable pattern before decreasing instead of 5. I did this in part because I was afraid 5 repeats would make it too long, as Eunny discussed here, and also because I was afraid I'd run out of yarn. It turned out to be just shy of a perfect length, but not short enough to warrant adding to the brim, and I only had a tiny amount of yarn left, so my estimation was about right.

Remember what I said about the socialist thing being long? Well, after finishing Shedir, I had time to make Jon half of the biggest sock ever.

Ok. Maybe it doesn't look so big in the picture, but let me just share some specs: the leg is 10" around, the heel flap is 5" long, and the widest point of the gusset is 13" around (I tried it on earlier, and I can wear it as a sleeve....I don't have little stick arms, either). Over a foot. Impressive, no? And, I've already used up about 1 1/3 skeins of yarn. Apparently, his feet are about the size of pre-felted slippers. They're turning out to be a good fit, though.

I'm using the same upscaled dragon pattern as I did for these socks. I generally don't like knitting the same pattern twice in a row, but I (prudently) brought yarn for a second project with me to the socialist meeting in case I finished Shedir. I decided that at the last minute, though, so I just grabbed something I could knit on my size 3 addi circular so I wouldn't have to deal with finsing yarn and needles. So Jon's socks it was.

Hubris

So, I'm over my cold/flu now, and I've hit the ground running. Thing is, doing so much work to catch up with all I missed last week requires some serious downtime. Which means I'm knitting just about as furiously as I'm working. Witness the dragon socks:


Aren't they pretty? What really makes these socks wonderful, though, are the details. Check out the way the pattern flows out around the toes and heels:

And here they are with the shoes I bought the same day as the yarn:


Yarn - 2 skeins claudia handpainted yarn (100% merino wool, 175 yards) in passion fruit. I LOVE this yarn. It's so soft and squooshy, and the colors are brilliant (but, sadly, I couldn't get a good photo of them, so just take my word for it).
Needles - worked using the magic loop method on size 2 addi turbos
Pattern - Here There Be Dragon socks (upscaled version). No major modifications made.

But that's not all! Progress has finally been made on the wee braids bolero:


I finally finished the body section and made an entire sleeve! One more to go and I'll start all the ribbing around the opening. I'm worried I'll run out of yarn, though, and get stalled by having to order more online. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In the meantime, I could work on this scarf I started for Jon. I'm knitting it with two strands of alpaca tweed, like his mittens, but using the cable pattern from his Glaistig hat and armwarmers.


But I digress. The reason I titled this post 'Hubris' is because in the last week or so, I've been craving big knitting projects. To date, I've completed one sweater, and that took me almost 6 months. But, I'm finding that finishing all these hats and socks and mittens in two or three days less satisfying than before. Blame habituation. I'm craving sweaters. Specifically, I'm craving this sweater. As soon as I saw the pattern for Flair was up, I had visions of myself sashaying down the street in my very own version with a kicky scarf wrapped just so around my neck. I would cut quite a figure....if only I could find 5 fantastic buttons. After some searching on eBay, I found these:


The white and black ones with the UFOs in front of the Eiffel Tower are for Flair. Aren't they amazing? And the seller also had the rocket buttons, which Jon liked. He only wanted one (I guess to keep in his pocket like a tiny pet rock or something) but I convinced him to let me buy him 3 of them plus about 16 skeins of yarn to make him a sweater. Which is quite an undertaking considering he's a big dude. I am fully convinced that I can whip up both of these fabulous garments by this time next year....I'm even considering making a tatami for my sister. I'm obsessed with it, but smart enough to know I'd look terrible in it, what with my thick-ish waist and narrow shoulders. My sister, on the other hand, would be able to carry it off wonderfully.

If convincing myself that I can knit 3 sweaters in a year on top of the ever-increasing amount of schoolwork I have isn't hubris, then I don't know what is. But I can say that 6 months from now when all I've gotten done is a sleeve and a couple of swatches that I'll end up in Icarus' support group.

In the meantime, before all my heady visions of knitted goodness get squashed, I'll revel in the fact that my boyfriend bought me the best Valentine's day present ever...


...more Claudia handpainted yarn! who could ask for more?

Socks - homeopathic remedy?

I'm still sick. I'm pretty sure it's more of a flu-ish thing than a cold because I've been running a fever for the last few days, and I'm puffy and sore, but not coughing and sneezing. Hopefully it'll blow over soon. Want to know something funny? Our thermometer is really wonky, so I don't really know how high my fever is. What we have to do is let me take my temperature, then have Jon take his own temperature, figure out the difference and then add another degree (I have a lower-than-average normal temperature of about 97.5 degrees). Today, I was getting 97.9, he was getting 94.something, which means I was running 3-4 degrees above normal. But the real indicator that I had a fever was that this miniscule amount of math was too much for me this morning.

I've been amusing myself today by watching Grease 2 from the floor (at some point while napping I rolled off the couch....and just kind of stayed down there underneath the coffee table. I get wacky when I'm sick (case in point, the super-long parenthetical asides, with other parenthetical asides nestled within them). One time, I wanted to run around outside in the snow shoeless because I felt hot. Jon didn't let me because he's responsible and patient. ) and starting a new pair of socks for myself. I'd planned on starting a hat, but it would have required rolling a skein into a ball, and the sock yarn was already prepped and ready to go. I chose the Here There Be Dragons pattern, and I'm already through with the leg and heel of the first one.
I really like them so far. Here's a closeup of the scale motif:


And yesterday, I finished the mittens!

Aren't they pretty? And just in time, too, since it's still wicked cold here. These puppies took no time to make at all, and were actually perfect sick kniting since there was minimal shaping and it was all stockinette in the round.
Yarn - Henry's Attic superfine Peruvian alpaca tweed (100% alpaca, about 600 yards per 1/2 pound skein) in color 109. I knit the mittens with two strands held together throughout to make them warmer and get a bigger gauge, since Jon's basically got catcher's mitts for hands.
Needles - set of 4 bamboo size 7 dpns. A fifth needle would've made things a bit easier, but I lost it, so whatever.
Pattern - Peekaboo mittens from the latest issue of Magknits. I followed the gist of the pattern more than the pattern itself and sized it according to a mateless mitten I'd made for Jon a year or so ago. The only major modification made was I substituted an afterthought thumb for the thumb with a gusset the pattern specifies. And I just did that because it made the mittens even easier.

Jon hit the jackpot

So, you know how it always takes you a week or so to get readjusted after breaks and things? I know it takes me at least a week or two, as I'm a creature of habit, and the shift in schedules from one semester to the other always hits me kind of hard. I've finally fallen into the rhythm of this semester, but it's pretty vicious. This semester is shaping up to fairly light class-wise, but very, very heavy research-wise. I'm working on four projects in various stages of completion, so I usually have to do some combination of administrative work to get through red tape, data analysis in the inexplicably hot and stuffy computer lab, data collection (thankfully, mostly online), and meet with professors and/or undergraduate research assistants. And then do a bunch of reading.

Basically, I have two options to manage this workload, which is apparently a bit larger than the typical first year grad student gets stuck with.

1. Work for several hours every day of the week with no breaks. This has the distinct advantage of allowing me to go to bed at a decent hour every night, but renders any other activities (such as moderate exercise) virtually impossible.
   
2. Work ridiculously hard during the week and do no work at all on the weekends. This requires me to work until 2 or 3 am and get up by 9 at the latest every morning, which means that I'm a mess by Friday. But, it also means I get to sleep all weekend and recharge.

I tried Option 1 for a couple of weeks and crashed and burned. It sounds good in theory, but the constant working meant that I needed more and more downtime, which meant that I was going to bed later and later. The lack of sleep turned out to be a huge drain on me emotionally, as I tended to burst into tears whenever my cats ran away from me.

So, I switched to Option 2. Which worked really well for the last couple of weeks, even if it meant I was a mess on Fridays and spent the weekends catnapping all day instead of hanging out with people. But, now I'm sick. It's not a big deal, just a cold that should pass in a couple of days, but I wonder if taking Option 2 has made me especially susceptible to germs.

Anyway, the bright side of Option 2 is that when I'm not passed out on the couch over the weekend, I'm knitting like a fiend. And this weekend, Jon scored big time! First, witness the Resurrection of the Cosby Socks:
Remember them? I made them waaaaay back in October and then this happened:

Yep, Jon ripped the toe of one of them right on the second or so time he wore them. And I avoided repairing them for, oh, about three months. I'm not sure why....I'm not their biggest fan, to be sure, and I was sure it would be a hassle to pick up all the stitches and reknit the toe, and I was a bit miffed that he took such bad care of them. But, it's cold now, and I felt bad, so I fixed them up good as new.


His voluminous amounts of gratitude then caused the Return of Sick Kitten and Sweatpant Gray yarn:
I made him his hat! Friday I had him go through the Vogue Stitchionary 2: Cables to pick out a bigger, bolder motif that could stand up against the texture of the yarn. He picked the Horseshoe I pattern. I started it yesterday and finished it this morning! I'm quite pleased with the result, in spite of the vomit-colored stripes.
Yarn - 1 skein each of Rowan Harris DK tweed (100% wool, 123 yards) in lewis gray and thatch. Which I still say is a misleading name for that color.
Needles - 40" size 5 addi turbos. I have to say that one reason this iteration of the sick kitten hat went so much better than the last is that I used these needles. The yarn is kind of felted and grippy, which makes it a real pain to use anything other than super-slippery metal needles.
Pattern - My own! It follows below, in case I (or, for that matter, anyone else) want to use it again:

Jon's Horseshoe Cap

This hat is knit from the brim to crown, and is 10" wide and 9" long unstretched.

Notations:

• m1 = make 1 stitch by picking up and knitting/purling through bar between stitch just worked and next stitch
• horseshoe cable pattern
• rounds 1 & 2: k12, p4
• round 3: Work 6st right leaning cable, then immediately work 6st left leaning cable, p4
• rounds 4-8: k12, p4
• stripe pattern:
• rounds 1-6: work in pattern in MC (gray)
• rounds 7-8: work in pattern in CC (vomit)

Pattern:

• CO 84 st in CC, work in 1x1 ribbing for 1 inch or so
• next round: switch to MC, [k4, m1, k4, m1 knitwise, k2, p1, m1 purlwise, p1] repeat to end (105 sts)
• next round: [k12, p2, m1 purlwise, p1] repeat to end (112 st)
• work rounds 3-8 of Horseshoe cable pattern, maintaining stripe pattern
• work Horseshoe cable pattern 4 more times (5 times total)
• when work is 2" shorter than desires, begin crown decreases over next 15 rounds:
  o in MC [k1, k2tog, k9, p4] repeat to end (105 sts)
  o in MC [k8, ssk, k1, p4] repeat to end (98 sts)
  o in MC [cable 5 to the right (hold first 2 sts to back), cable 5 to the left (hold first 3 sts to front), p1, p2tog, p1] repeat to end (91 sts)
  o in MC [k2, k2tog, k6, p3] repeat to end (84 sts)
  o in MC [k4, ssk, k3, p3] repeat to end (77 sts)
  o in MC [k8, p2tog, p1] repeat to end (70 sts)
  o in CC [k2tog, k6, p2], repeat to end (63 sts)
  o in CC [k5, ssk, p2], repeat to end (56 sts)
  o in MC [k1, k2tog, k3, p2] repeat to end (49 sts)
  o in MC [k2, ssk, k1, p2] repeat to end (42 sts)
  o in MC [right leaning twist, left leaning twist, p2tog] repeat to end (35 sts)
  o in MC [k1, k2tog, k1, p1] repeat to end (28 sts)
  o in MC [k1, ssk, p1] repeat to end (21 sts)
  o in MC [k2tog, p1] repeat to end (14 sts)
  o in MC [ssk] repeat to end (7 sts)
• break yarn and draw tightly through last 7 sts
• weave in all ends, attach pom-pom if demanded to by your significant other

Here's a closeup of the cable motif and the crown decreases. I'm really pleased with the way the crown decreases turned out and took a picture of them before I added the pom-pom.

But that not all! I started Jon a pair of peekaboo mittens tonight as well:
It'll be fairly simple. All stockinette, all in the round, and I'll probably substitute an afterthought thumb for ease. I'm using the leftover skein of the alpaca tweed from my totally awesome first sweater ever, but I'm holding two strands together and knitting it on 7's to make it nice and thick (and fast).

Between the hat, socks, and mittens, Jon should be nice and toasty when he drives around all night delivering pizzas. I'm making all this stuff for him in large part because it's gotten soooo cold here. In my phlegmatic, fevered stats, I've spent the night watching the Grease: You're the One that I Want marathon, which has been interrupted three times with weather advisories talking about polar fronts and windchill temperatures hovering around -12 degrees. I guess I just wanted to make sure he didn't lose his ears to frostbite, because, let's face it: ear stumps are not sexy.

Homework - 0, Socks - 1

I finished Tamar's socks!
Aren't they lovely? She picked out the yarn and the pattern, and I have to say she's got a good eye. The really short color repeats in the yarn kept it from pooling, which kept it visually interesting without competing too much with the rather subtle lace pattern. I can't really do the socks justice here as my feet are smaller than Tamar's. Hopefully, they'll be a bit less lumpy on her.
Yarn - about 2 1/2 skeins of Lane Cervinia Calzetteria (70% wool, 30% nylon; 150 meters) in color 904. I didn't particularly like knitting with this yarn, because I could feel the nylon in it, but I think it'll hold up really well. I do, however, like the ball band.
I know it's blurry, but look closely! It's a woman hanging out with some sheep in what looks like mountains in the beginning of The Sound of Music with some sort of basket attached to her like a turtle shell. This wouldn't be that remarkable if it was Austrian yarn, but it's apparently Italian. I find it very amusing.
Needles - I worked the ribbing on size 2 addis, and the rest on my trusty size 3 addi turbos. Don't leave home without them!
Pattern - the Monkey Socks from Knitty, with virtually no modifications besides going up a needle size