I've got some loot to show off. First up, I made the excellent purchase of this bag
I can't even tell you how much I like this. There are the pockets where there should be (one exactly the right size for my knitting notebook), it's the perfect size, it sits just right, and so on.
This series of photos I like to refer to as "Ooo, look how pretty"
Big Kureyon bought on clearance at Hilltop to be... something.
Now that I have those cute shoes that show off the top of my socks, I need to keep some socks that I knit. And they must be Koigu.
I have finally settled on Manos for my Clapotis (it only took a year).
This morning I met friends for a little knitting (what a way to start the day), and finished the ballet slippers for Mark's grandmother. I made the pair in just one skein of Lamb's Pride. Just made. They look incredibly stupid at the moment, but I trust that felting will redeem them. I promise a picture in the morning; I'm just already in bed and just don't see myself getting up to photograph and post. I spent the afternoon shopping for shoes and was finally successful. I got these:
Price for the average woman: $100
Price for those cursed with feet so small that 98% of shoes available are covered in pink sequins: $60
Then I stumbled on these:
Price for the average woman: $95
Price for the woman (having an exceptionally lucky day) with no competition for shoes due to abnormally small feet so they end up at Nordstrom Rack: $36
Now if only they would make a classic knee-high heeled leather boot for children...
I just spent about 5 hours reading about the theory of PowerPoint slide design. Ugh. The people writing the articles were getting just as loopy as I was reading them if the titles of their papers are any indication: the philosophical (“Is PowerPoint the Devil?”), the voice of mediation ("The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Not All Slides Are Evil”), the terrible puns (“The Level of Discourse Continues to Slide”), and the bitchy ("Pictoral Illustrations
Still Improve Student Learning"). At least I was able to knit, albiet inconsistantly. Yesterday and today I've been working on a pair of Fiber Trends Felt Ballerina Slippers for Mark's grandmother who has been ill. This is the first project I've worked with Lamb's Pride, and I really like it, and the pattern is so simple they just fly off the needles. I'm not thrilled that they are garter stitch in the round, but life could certainly be worse.
Dear new neighbors next door,
You may have noticed that we live over a rather noisy bar. Obviously, we couldn't be here if some noise bothered us too much, but that doesn't mean that the occasional night of peace isn't appreciated. Monday nights are the one quiet night we get. Relish it. Meditate. Watch TV without a random soundtrack included. Do not blast your music so loud as to fill the void. Just on Mondays, pretend that we live in a normal building where you have to respect your neighbors.
Sincerely,
Molly
I just got back to my Seattle apartment. It took two hours for me to get back from the airport, according to my internal clock I should have been in bed six hours ago, someone is belting out Funkytown, and I just saw a man dressed as a duck propose to a woman at the airport... And now it's Sweet Caroline. Welcome back to Seattle.
2:02 PDT/4:02 CDT My friends were going to sleep, I was making breakfast. And being greeted by the welcome wagon.
A while ago I finished the first socks in the Knitting on the Road along. I made three of them. The pink I previewed before. I, er, can't find the sock or pictures at this particular moment. I have to wait to do the second because I am planning on using the scrap yarn from my EZ sweater. I didn't read all that carefully when knitting, so I turned the heel and moved right on to Chart 2 after having completed Chart 1 only once. I like the shorter ankle, and just repeated Chart 2. I don't really like this sock at all. I much prefer the repetition of Chart 1, as written, and I just don't like this yarn as a sock. I think it's the mohair.
The completed pair I made out of
(Sorry about the crappy picture. It was the clearest I got, and I've decided that blocking is unnecessary.) I followed the pattern more closely for these. I still made a short ankle, but repeated Chart 1. I like this and the yarn a lot better. This yarn is much smaller than the sport-weight the pattern is written for, so it created child-size socks. I have decided that my carry-along project will always be something for the Dulaan project. In this case I made the sock as written in smaller yarn to adjust it to kid size. Others I'll have to cut parts of the patterns, or just donate things for the older kids.
In the midst of my Christmas knitting, I am knitting the sweater in Elizabeth Zimmerman's first newsletter. I've completed the sleeves:
They look awfully lumpy here, but blocking will straighten that out. I'm using Dale's Tiur, which is a joy to work with and is very reasonably priced. It has a nice soft halo from the mohair, and all the ease of knitting with wool. I'm not into EZ's ribbing and then increasing suddenly afterward so I put a five row hem with a purl turning row at the bottom of each sleeve and the body. The row where I knit two together all around to connect the hem is incredibly tedious but it's better than sewing it in and I love the look of a hem. I'm a few inches up on the main part. There's quite a bit of stockinette yet to do.
Okay, so I've been on something of a blogging hiatus. I find it really difficult to blog when I'm in MS, because I just want to visit with my friends. If I ever manage to park my butt in front of the computer I have to work on my qual. Speaking of which.... 12 pages down! I have made it my goal to have a completed draft by the one year anniversary of passing the written exam. I have until a week from Monday. I have a ton of finished objects to show, but am away from home and my camera at the moment. I am very proud of my day today, though. This morning I ran to the Fiber Gallery. For those of you not familiar with the geography from Fremont to Greenwood, this is all up hill. And it is not a gradual hill in any sense. I even increased my middle running segment from 8 to 10 min. Oh, and the reason I'm not home right now is that I walked an hour to a friend's place to hang out. I rule.
