Well I have done it. I have joined my first ever knitalong. In the past I have just mooched off old knitalongs when I finally got around to a project, but now I'm part of the action. You will note the shiny new DNA scarf knitalong button on my sidebar. I haven't quite decided what yarn I'm going to use, but there is a Skeins sale on Friday for me to figure it out. Clearly, this was fate. I need something really plush, as it will be a Christmas present for my dad (and maybe one for my husband). I have been searching and searching for something I could knit these two, and this geekalicious pattern is just the thing.

posted by Anonymous @ 9:59 AM 0 comments

A woman at work today asked me if I had "gotten my knitting all straightened away." Huh? I racked my brain to figure out if she would have somehow heard about troubles on some recent project, or what on earth else she could have meant. Figuring that I wasn't having any current problems, I decided it would be safe to give a vague "uh-huh," adding that "[my knitting] is sort of an ongoing thing." As she continued, I realized she was referring to the yarn I had been buying when I ran into her at the Weaving Works sale. On Mother's Day. It sounds as though she has not knit anything since and was having trouble deciding what to do with it. My hands are shaking at the mere suggestion of four months without knitting, but I understand that not everyone is as addicted as I am. It was the wording of her question that really made me feel as though I had just discovered a new rare breed of knitter, though. Imagine thinking of knitting as something that would be over and done with once you finished your project! And to assume that everyone else is the same way! Although I certainly know people who have decided knitting was not their thing and stopped after one project, I've never known anyone to plan it that way. I guess being exposed to many different points of view is one of the advantages of still being in school.

posted by Anonymous @ 10:07 AM 0 comments

As this is my first foray into the blogging world, I think I will begin with a basic introduction. I am a second year graduate student in the Material Sciences and Engineering department of the University of Washington, and though I have known how to knit for years, I have only discovered the immense joy associated with it about eight months ago. It the short time since, I have moved from recreational user to full-fledged addict. It is a wonderful way to cope with graduate school, as a hobby that is productive goes a long way toward alieviating the frustration of a research career that is refusing to be. This blog will be a running commentary on both my work and my hobby, along with the occasional discourse on my favorite topic of study in the humanities; fairy tales. I love reading traditional fairy tales, retellings of fairy tales, and discourses on fairy tales (their social influence, etc).

Recently I have been amusing myself searching for knitting in fairy tales. So far it is woefully underrepresented compared to weaving or spinning. I have found two; Hans Christian Anderson's The Wild Swans, and one from an unknown (to me) source in which a shepherd knitting on a hillside drops his ball of yarn and it rolls down a hole that houses the sleeping bodies of King Arthur and his court. If you know of any other knitting tales, drop me a line.

posted by Anonymous @ 12:13 PM 1 comments