Fighting the Good Fight

So, as alluded to in my last post, I spent the weekend at another one of those three-day-long socialist meetings. These meetings are so odd - on the one hand, I really enjoy them because I no longer live near a proper branch and thus no longer get these kinds of awesome conversations and get all pumped and inspired to do stuff (instead, as you know, I watch a lot of of ANTM). On the other hand, as much as I like the people there, they do tend to be a bit pretentious and drop terms like 'historical materialism' and 'radicalized youth' like they were the names of celebrities and they were desperately trying to get in to a club on Saturday night.

Mostly though, it was just exhausting. I stayed focused by writing really detailed notes and by knitting these socks:

Check out the TV: It's SPRING BREAK and I'm rewatching as much of Lost as is humanly possible.

They don't really have a name yet, but they're gray, not fancy at all, and for my mechanic stepfather. Given the atmosphere, I was toying with calling them proletariat socks of something equally ridiculous.

If you've ever wondered what our kind does for fun, stay tuned - Dani and I blogged the Oscars and it will be posted this week.

Happy Birthday Jon!

Today you're entering your mid-twenties, which makes you a lame old person as much in body as you always have been in spirit. Since you're still in Minneapolis and I'm not, I'm banking on Dani throwing you an awesome birthday like we did for her back in january. Who knows, maybe you'll even get a fort!

In any case, I wanted to celebrate your birthday by sharing your slick dance moves with the world:

People deserve to know! Besides, this way there's something they can play for you on the TV in case, you know....you get hit by a drunk driver or something. Just saying.

PS - Call your mom, Greg, and Van. They've all called your cell phone.

One Step Foward, Two Steps Back

So, remeber the Eton Sweater? And how it looked like this?


I haven't mentioned it for awhile...because I hit a bit of a knitting pothole with it. I tried it on and it was just not going to work. I mean, I have narrow shoulders and all, but I apparently had made a miscalculation at some point that not even Marilyn Monroe's tiny shoulders could squeeze into. So I made it wade around in the frog pound for a minute.


Not quite back to square one, just back to square September. Which sucks. And I need to recalibrate. But before I do that, I thought I'd cheer myself up by showing you exactly how much work has already gone into this puppy. Behold the original schematic:


Ok. Granted, it's not that much to behold. But, it did beget the Chart of Charts:


I know it's split into two pictures, but it's really one gigantic chart. The bottom half is most of the repeating body section, and the top part is how it splits for the neckline. and before you think I just crazily overcharted the damn thing, look at the detail in the middle - it means that the two halves are mirrored and thus worked differently. So just the once chart wouldn't do.

Ok. I feel a little better now. I will finish this sweater, because I made that damned mega-chart by god! Now I just have to figure out what went wrong with those sleeves.

How do you like the new layout?

I thought it was time to update it, since....well, there's no real good reason except that I didn't want to do my homework and kind of felt like tinkering with HTML instead. It's weird, but sometimes I get minor cravings for it. In any case, I'm quite proud of the third column.

Surprise FO: Calorimetry

Along with being a surprise FO, it's also the inaugural FO of 2008! Just in time, too, because Michigan got cold. Not as cold as Minneapolis (where I'm headed later this week for socialist doings and much hanging out with a certain BFF), but certainly cold enough to warrant a headwrap-y thing. I'm not entirely sure what the proper name for this is.

Yarn - Lana Grossa Mega Stoppino (99 yards, 65% wool/35% acrylic) in color 218. This yarn is awesome! It was only, like, $8 and I still have half a skein or so left. Though, I'm not sure what to make with the rest of it. It's also got a higher acrylic content than I tend to knit with (I, like just about everyone, started with plastic-y Red Heart and then quickly became a yarn snob), but it's fluffy and soft and not weird feeling at all.

Needles - Clover 16" bamboo circulars. Worked just fine.

Pattern - Calorimetry from Knitty. I've been meaning to make this for awhile, especially since my hair is growing out and I have taken to wearing it in a big, messy half-bun thing that looks unsightly in hats (and often out of them, too). I changed the gauge informally (meaning no swatches) and guestimated how big to make it. I got it kind of right, but after wearing it a few times, it started to stretch and sag a little. To make it tighter, I put the button through another hole left by the short rows and just safety pinned the other flap into place. That's why it's off-center in that picture up there.

Blast from the past

First, sorry about the irregular posting. Prelims + classes + catching up from all the stuff I put off doing union work = complete overload. Bear with me for another month and I promise contact will be frequent and full of content (note: same goes for those of you guilt-tripping me about the lack of non-blogging contact...YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!). Ok, now that that's out of the way...

Man. I have been working on this thing forever. I started it waaay back in April. Can you believe it? A year for a scarf! I could've gestated and given birth to a fetus in that span of time! Of course, the really ridiculous thing is that I am still working on it.

But, I can't quit now - I'm too far in! I've got, easily, 75% of it done. All I need to do is make another foot and half or so of crazy checkerboarded material, then graft the other disintegrating check end onto it, and I'm done. And can wear it proudly, pretending that I started and ended it in the same calendar year.

I've actually been working on it a decent amount lately. It floundered in my tub o' WIP for a few months because I was fed up with the fiddliness of the double knitting and seeming lack of progress. Now it's my go-to knitting for things that do not require visual attention, like podcasting for Jarthen. So, the possibility of getting this thing finished before I get my degree is looking more and more realistic.

Somewhere....

....Tom Brady is crying like a little girl, and I'm ok with that. I'm alright with the suffering that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are enduring right now because it is but the bitter fruit of the NY Giants' victory in tonight's Super Bowl.

Now, I don't approve of jumping on the bandwagon just because a team is doing well -- I never have. I will also admit, that I have not been the most pious of fans: I certainly haven't kept the sabbath holy, or borne witness to many of the faithfuls' recent trials, but I never, ever went so far as to root for false idols. I am penitent for my lack of observance, and I am proud to say that my faith has been renewed by the glorious spectacle of the New England Patriots getting spanked in possibly the finest Super Bowl ever played.

Truly, young Eli, you are the chosen one.