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.

Christmas Spirit

You know what gives me the Christmas spirit? Finshed objects! That's what! Like these socks:

Yep! The Red Herring socks are done! Although they're actually aqua, but whatever.

Yarn - Dale of Norway Baby Ull (100% wool, 180 yards), 1 skein in black, 2 skeins in blue (color 6714). It's really soft an springy, and it's superwash, which is an added bonus. My only complaint is that I kept snagging my needles on it and separating the plies.
Needles - size 2 32" addi turbos, for the magic loop-in'
Pattern - Red Herring from Knitty. I followed the pattern pretty closely, but because I have bizarrely long, narrow feet, I added a few more decreases to the foot to make it more snug.

Guess what? More finished objects:

Leila's Brainwash bag is complete! All that was left was to add straps, line it, and add a closure. By the way, that's my boyfriend modelling the bag, not my sister.
Yarn - 1 skein each of Lopi (100% wool, 110 yards) in black and white. I like this yarn to make random bulky things like bags and it's good for felting. It's too rough to make wearable things, though, and it sheds all over creation like a cat. So, I shaved the bag to try to get rid of all the wispies. Which felt really weird when I was doing it.
Needles - 24" size 11 bamboo circulars
Pattern - I used the charts from the Brainwash Bag pattern, but I adapted it to be worked in the round. I didn't felt it, either. I was planning to, but then I got scared of some horrible felting-gone-wrong fiasco messing up the communal washers in my apartment building and chickened out. The final dimensions are 14" long x 10" wide instead of 10" x 10".


Last but not least, I've been working on some swatches the last couple of days. My other, Tamar, started a leftovers blanket last year that's been in my possesion forever, and I haven't added to it yet. And I'd feel like a total jerk if I didn't do anything to it before I see her next week, so I made a bunch of swatches. Hopefully, I'll start swatching for real and I can just start adding those.






So, tomorrow morning I head back to Texas to celebrate Christmas with my family. Which will be nice because I don't see them that often, what with my living in Michigan. I'm going to start a new pair of socks (maybe these cable twist ones) on my flight tomorrow using this sport weight handspun I've had lying around for awhile. After Christmas, I'm flying to New York to visit my friends Dani (who got the purple armwarmers), Tamar, and Carly. And then back to the grind.



A word of warning, though: my family only has dial-up so I may not be able to post until I get back.

I'm free!

Guess what.....I finished the Christmas knitting! Isn't it amazing? I finished Mandy's bag this morning (although, technically, I still have to block and line the bags I've made and then I'll be totally finished with the christmas knitting. But, whatever). In fact, Mandy's bag turned out so well that I'm seriously considering submitting it to Knitty to be published. Which means that i'm not allowed to post pictures of it on the web until it's been accepted (or more likely) rejected. But here's a taste to hold you over:


Here's the final count of completed Christmas knitting:

• 3 pairs of socks
• 3 pairs of armwarmers
• 3 bags
• 2 hats
• 1 shawl

Not bad! And how to celebrate the end of my holiday servitude? With a super-fast super-bulky scarf, because its been snowing all day and I want to have something of my own as quickly as possible. Huzzah!


At least, these first 6 inches or so look warm and comfy.

Home Stretch

So, the semester is winding down and I'm definitely starting to feel the pinch of it. My last final and paper is due just under two weeks from now, along with two completed IRB's (or, research propoals for those of you not in the psychology loop), and a set of measure to use for pilot testing when I go home for Christmas. I've got a decent head start on the research stuff, and I'm planning for the paper in plenty of time, but I'm still in a very nose-to-the-grindstonish kind of mindset.


But....guess what else is winding down?! That's right! The damned Christmas knitting! I've only got 1 1/2 projects left and then I'm free to finally knit something for myself. As you can see, the first of the Glaistig armwarmers for He of the Big Fat Hands is essentially done. All that's left is to do is weave in the ends. I'll roll the other skein of Malabrigo into a ball and cast on for the mate tonight.


And look what came in the mail today! The yarn for Mandy's bag in the colors she asked for! I think I'm going to make a stranded two-color cabled bag, with pink as the background and the cables in green. I suspect that this won't take very long to finish since I've been using knitting to take breaks between all the academic stuff.

Thanksgiving 2006.....

Or, as it shall be heretofore referred to as, that weekend of many pies and completed knitting! Can you think of a better combination? I can't.

My boyfriend and I drove to our friend Van's on Wednesday because Chicago is way closer to Ann Arbor than Houston is. And man, I had no idea what I was getting into. Turns out, everyone but me was an accomplished chef, so I ended up peeling lots and lots of eggs. But the many tasty dishes were totally worth it!

Van also failed to mention that Friday was designated Egg Nog and Pie Day! Which I was, perhaps, more grateful for than Thanksgiving proper. Look at these babies....who could possibly resist them?

As alluded to above, I made great strides in demolishing my Christmas Knitting List of Doom. I finished the first purple armwarmer on the ride there, the second on Thursday, the first black one on Friday, and the second one on Saturday. I was literally walking from room to room while knitting for the sheer unencumbered joy of it! The purple ones are for Dani in Minnesota and the black ones are for Jennie in Indiana, and will hopefully be mailed off to them this week.
Yarn - 2 skeins Artyarns Supermerino (100% Merino, 107 yards) in color 237 for the purple ones and 2 skeins Noro Cash Iroha (%40 silk/ %30 lambswool/ %20 cashmere(!!)/ %10 nylon, 99 yards) in black for the (obviously) black pair.
Needles - I did both pairs using the magic loop method. I did the 1 x 1 ribbing on size 3 addi turbos and the rest of them on size 5 addi turbos. And then I used them to teach Van, who's been knitting far longer than myself, how to knit in the round.
Pattern - a slightly modified version of Fetching. I added ribbing and an extra cable repeat to the fingers of both sets, and an extra cable repeat to the cuff of the purple ones.


I also made this hat for my silly boyfriend! It turned out beautifully, if incredibly bright. I also think the color brings out his ruddiness and makes him look even more knackered on egg nog than he actually was in this picture.
Yarn - 1/2 skein of Malabrigo yarn (100% merino, 215 yards) in apple green (although I've never seen an apple quite that green)
Needles - el cheapo 16" bamboo circular size 9's that I've knitted a million hats on. Only, I forgot dpns, so decreasing the crown was a really sadistic form of knitting torture, let me tell you. Lesson? Always carry dpns. Always.
Pattern - Glaistig from The Anticraft. I followed the pattern to the letter, except that I skipped the eyelet row and corresponding hat band because it was a bit too girly for Mr. Man. I also went up a needle size and it fit his melon head perfectly.


On the way home, I cast on and knit about half of this bag for my sister. I hadn't planned on making her a bag, but Mandy decided on colors I didn't have in my stash, and I brought this along in case I finished all the other projects I had with me, which was aparently a good call. I finished it when I got home while watching Desperate Houswives.
Yarn - 1 skein Lopi (100% Icelandic wool, 110 yards) each in black and white.
Needles - 24" bamboo circular size 11, which is why I finished it so fast
Pattern - The Brainwash Bag adapted to be knit in the round.

So, what's left of the Christmas knitting? Not much!

• Mandy's bag, to be done in pastel green and pink. After which I will block, line, and sew straps onto all the bags.
  
• Tamar the Other's socks, to be done in January.
• A pair of armwarmers to match Jon's irradiated apple green hat. I'm knitting them to bide time until the yarn for Mandy's bag gets here. Here's a sneak peek of those:
  

The ever-expanding stash

Why is it that I end up buying more yarn for myself during the knitting-for-others holiday months than I do at any other time of year? Does this happen to anyone else, or am I just a freak? As you can see from the picture above, there are quite a few projects I'd like to start for me and me alone. I think that I've got 4 pairs of socks, a pair of felted slippers, 2 scarves, and 2 sweaters on the queue so far. And almost all of this yarn has been purchased within the last four months....which is about the same time that I started knitting presents for other people.......coincidence?

To put this in perspective, I think I only bought 5 or 6 skeins of yarn to make presents with, and at least 3 of those were on sale. Everything else was stuff I already had in my stash or yarn that people picked out and bought for themselves and then gave to me with specific items in mind.

I hope that when I eventually finish the Christmas knitting and get to knit thing for myself that I'll use up this laundry basket of yarn before getting distracted and adding to it. There's something about buying yarn and planning projects for the future that makes the act of knitting stuff you may not like for other people (especially people who don't knit and therefore may not fully appreciate the hard work and dangerous nature of knitting) more bearable, I guess. Apparently, self-denial is not my strong suit.

In any case, I'll get a decent amount of car-trip knitting done this weekend on the way to and back from Chicago for thaksgiving, and will hopefully make great strides towards finishing the last few presents.

Fever Dream

Ok. I'm not gonna lie, I'm fairly certain that I'm feverish. So, if this post seems a bit scattered and nonsensical, that's why.

Now that the pesky disclaimer's out of the way, let's get down to business! First, I realized today that my cats are now completely incapable of surviving in the wild. Not that I was about to drop them alone in the woods somehwere with only a book of matches and a tarp like they do with those super-rugged survival people or anything. But look at Mittens! Lolling about with her vulnerable belly exposed with a devil-may-care attitude. It's like they've turned into dodo birds, with no concept of fear or understanding that predators could be after them. If only we could all be so lucky, right?


I, on the other hand, am totally swamped with work. and when I say swamped, I mean swamped! I currently have four, count 'em, four projects in the works. I'm designing what will turn into my master's thesis, working on a qualitative data set with my advisor, designing a correlational study with another professor for a book chapter (yay! I'll finally have something real on my CV!), and finally, trying to pull together a couple of studies to beef up my undregraduate honors thesis and make it possibly publishable. We'll see how that goes. So, basically, all the stress and constant pressure has me feeling and looking like this picture: all bug-eyed and confused. I'm going to visit my friend in Chicago for Thanksgiving, and I'm determined to finish all the work than needs to be done by next week today and tomorrow so that all I have to do this weekend is knit, eat turkey, and sleep. Rest and recharge, if you will.


Of course, I know that the few of you out there reading this blog probably weren't attracted by the almost-psychologist part as you were the fiber-arts part. Well, last night, I cracked under the pressure mentioned above and rebelliously refused to do any sort of academic work and instead knitted this nifty little case for my fancy new digital camera. I used a little bit of pink and black Lopi yarn I had lying around and worked it in the slip-stitch pattern I used for Sam's bag. This was actually a very practical thing to make because the camera's been laying on the coffee table and the cats keep playing with the little string/handle thing and pulling it onto the floor (which, thank god, is carpeted.....but still).

The picture on the left is the yarn for the projects I have yet to knit into people's Christmas presents. I was going to include a picture of all the yarn I have that's slated for projects only for me, but I just bought some more online, and I'll wait to take it until it's arrived. The big gray mass is Henry's Attic Alpaca Tweed that will be made into a matching scarf and mittens set for my boyfriend (although it is very likely that he won't get the entire set until his birthday in February). The bright green Malabrigo yarn underneath it is going to be made into a hat for him. The white and black Lopi to the left of the alpaca will turn into a bag for Mandy, Sam's sister. The black ball and skein (Cash Iroha) and the purple skeins (Artyarns Supermerino) just above it at the bottom of the picture will be made into armwarmers for my exiled friends. The picture on the right is a closeup of the Supermerino. It's gorgeous! All purple with subtley shifting shades. I think I'll miss it when it's gone. Hopefully some of this will be converted into wearable objects by the time I get back from Chicago.

One down, 5 to go....

I finished knitting Sam's bag! Sam is my little sister's best friend, who I adore, and who is basically my other little sister. It's a slip-stitch pattern, so the fabric is kind of stiff and it needs to be stretched to it's final size and blocked into shape. I also need to line it, sew in some straps, and stick on some buttons to close the flap. I'll post all the yarn and pattern information when that's all said and done, so you can see it in it's full glory. In the meantime, here's a closeup to tide you over:

See? Lovely! Here's the (final, I hope) list of Christmas knitting that has yet to be done:

• A pair of purple cabled armwarmers for my purple-loving bestest buddy who's currently exiled in Minnesota, and therefore in dire need of warmth.
• Another bag for Sam's sister Mandy, though I'm not exactly sure what it should be.
• A bright green cabled hat for my goofy boyfriend.
• Probably something for my other bestest buddy who's exiled in Indiana, but I'm still not sure what it will be.
• And, finally, a pair of socks for my other. Luckily, these won't be made until January when I'll let her pick out the yarn while I'm visiting her in New York. She'll be making me a pair of armwarmers in return (she is the armwarmer queen!).

A new city, a new blog, a new set of Christmas knitting

So, here I am, almost a year to the day after I first learned to knit withmy very own, brand-spankin' new knitting blog. My plan is that it shall be awesome.

And who am I? I am a brand-new grad student in the University of Michigan's psychology Ph.D. program. I moved away from my comfortable nest of friends and knitting companions in Ohio and I've been feeling a tad bit lonesome out here by myself. All I have for company is my big goofy boyfriend and our two cats, Mittens (the littly gray one) and Jonnikins McFattington (the orange one), whom we call Fatty for short.

In general terms, I'm a huge dork, which I have come to accept and treasure. Need proof? I enjoy statistics...a lot. I titled my blog Captian Knitpicky because my compulsive rationality soemtimes gets me into trouble. I once went off on how much the space-time incosistencies in the Chronicles of Narnia bother me, to which a friend of mine responded, "That's ridiculous. You're the most illogically logical person I have ever met." Which, I think, makes me nitpicky. Add a K and you get a nerdy pun!

Anyway, this blog is supposed to focus on knitting. I have tackled the Christmas list, because I am too poor to buy proper presents. Knitted gifts would be acceptable, except that most of the people I knit for live in Texas, and my family keeps the air conditioner on even in December. Here are the things I have already completed:

A Clapotis for my mom. I used about 3 1/2 skeins of Katia Ingunea Print in color 5652 and knitted it on size 7 needles. I started on a really awful pair of pink plastic ones, but I lost one at some oint in an airport coming back from my friend's wedding and finished them on wooden ones. Honestly, how do you lose a 14 inch knitting needle without noticing it?



Also, a pair of socks for my mom. Although, technically they were for her birthday. But whatever. I used 2 skeins of Artyarns Supermerino in color 105 on 40" size 3 addi turbos. You can't really tell, but I used a traveling eyelet pattern that looks really nifty. The pattern is my own, although this is certainly not the first time someone has used traveling eyelets.





Here's a pair of socks I knitted for my boyfriend. I knitted them on my size 3 addi turbos and used 1 skein of Lorna's Laces sock yarn in Amish and another in Black Watch because he demanded that the socks be complementary, not matching. So, I chose a basic rib with stripes based on the Fibonacci sequence. See? I told you I was a dork. Anyway, the colors overwhelmed the stripes, and they turned out looking suspiciously like a Cosby sweater.

Here's what I have yet to knit:

• the second cabled sock for my stepdad (one down, one to go)
• felted bags for my sister and her best friend and her best friend's sister, who are like sisters to me
• fingerless gloves for my boyfriend
• socks for my Other (see I Heart Huckabees)
• felted slippers for my bestest buddy

Wish me luck.