Friday, September 18, 2015

Week Goals

Whoosh, time is moving quickly, especially as October begins all the job application stuff.

In the next week I want to:
1) edit my research statement (by Monday, to send to the committee)
2) make a website (even if it's rudimentary; not just linkedin)
3) do laundry
4) work on my error/uncertainty estimates for at least 5 hours
5) write for at least 5 hours
6) schedule a doctor's appt
7) get through the orange part of my current spinning project

there, that should be good for both fun and work.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

AUTUMN IS COMING

Fingers crossed of course, but lately the mornings and evenings are nice enough to have the windows open, and the shade is pretty pleasant.

I've been enjoying my tomatoes as I pick them, one at a time, and eat them right off the two plants. They are doing pretty well but I can tell they would like to grow a lot taller. I will not repot them--they are already taking over the porch. They are enjoying the rain from the weekend.

My potatoes are ready to be dug up, and I'm excited because this means soon I will have tasty little oven roasted potatoes :) It is almost soup season, too, so roasted veggie soup is coming up. The weather is still hot and humid during most of the day, so it's just a little hint that those things might be coming soon, but it's nice to have a reminder.

I have my first draft of job application stuff completed, and am editing/working on improving it before the first applications are due (end of Sept). Meanwhile, I am also ankle deep in programming. Kind of fun, though.

I finally got oil for the spinning wheel and spent last night happily spinning my Loop Bullseye Bump


Isn't it pretty? It's got flecks of copper and green sparkle (angelina) in it as well. It's mostly merino, so it's slick, but it's spinning up nice and fine. I am aiming for a fingering/sport weight 2ply, and for the second ply I picked up some chocolate-colored corriedale when I went to Stony Mountain Fibers yesterday for the oil. It's a bit springier than merino but it should work well as the second ply and I can't wait to see what sort of yardage I end up getting! This is the last thing in my Spin the Bin 2015 challenge box as well, so when I finish this I'll have met my year's goal.

There's one more thing I want to spin, though, and that's a 3 ply sock weight. I have 8oz of lilac colored corriedale from Highland Handmades and 4oz of a blue-lavender BFL/silk blend from Frabjous Fibers and I think they'll go well together. 

Knitting continues apace, but there really isn't enough time in the day. I have some plans for a beautiful geometric lace shawl, but I don't know if I will get a chance to start it before the end of the year, much less finish it. Oh well!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

When work gets overwhelming, make a list

Actually that's terrible advice--the best advice is to sit down and do things for as much time as you can instead of worrying about them for as much time as you can.

Buut it's break time so I'm gonna blog about knitting. or potential knitting.

I am feeling the need for shawls all of a sudden. I picked up that intricate lace shawl in August and I want to just pound away on that sucker for 4 hours a night (note: I do not get that much time to work on it. Usually I knit two rows right before I pass out). I ripped out my Vacillate color shawl (it was too wide, and I was gonna end up with a square rather than a rectangle) and I want to go home from work right now to cast it on and get back on the horse (it's a very very fun knit. Surprisingly addictive and easy). And I found a wee nubbin of a crescent Summer Flies shawl that I really want to start again (mm, pretty purple yarn)--I didn't get much past the garter tab caston for that one but I think it's awesome regardless. I also need to wind yarn for my next Piper's Journey, and I think that I finally decided I am going to knit a Nurmilintu with my luxurious purple silk yarn I got two years ago for my birthday. I also have 4 glorious skeins of Dragonfly Fibers DK yarn (traveller is the base) in the Titania colorway, and I think they'd make either a great Rococo Shawl.

I want to do a Striped Study or Different Lines or something like that in my two skeins of madelinetosh tosh merino light in the copper penny and oxblood colorways, but I also recently got gifted Oak Park pattern and I think if I picked up a dark brown and full skein and a partial of something like tart or another red or purple variant in mtl I can make a really fantastic version of this shawl.

There are a thousand crescent shawls awaiting me, and I still don't know what to do with some of my precious shawl stash. *sigh*.

Similarly, yarn for socks continues to breed even though I knit with it incessantly. Perhaps next year will be a knit-twelve-pairs year.... much needed.

The holidays are coming up faster than I expected. I am taking a relaxed approach to their knitting this year, though. I want to make mittens and socks for everybody, and a poncho for mom and a hat for my brothers, but I might just do mittens when I can and skip everything else. It's busy around here.

That's enough fun for now. Back to work.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Today's mystery

The mystery of the day is: what is this thing?


fyi, I do not have a solution to this mystery. It has plagued a group of mine for nearly two years now, so I thought I would share it with the world. Leave a misguided or informative answer, whichever you prefer.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

WIPsplosion averted

So, it's inevitable that startitis sets in after a big event like Stash Dash. This is especially true this year, as I made my Stash Dash 2015 all about working on WIPs and as such, cast on nothing new the whole summer. By the end of SD, I had three projects that needed their ends woven in and some seaming, and one pair of socks on the needles. everything else was done, or in deep hibernation.

Immediately upon finishing, I did a pair of fingerless mitts for my aunt out of Road to China by the Fibre Company (note to self: add this to the review list, ung it is so decadent) and then promptly made a pair of wee baby shoes out of the leftovers. But after that little spurt (a mere weekend's time) I felt all lost and fumbly. Usually this means I need to do some spinning until my projects settle themselves in their mind.

But nothing really felt settled, and instead of casting on something new, I went digging through my old hibernating projects and came out with a tricky lace shawl in very delicate yarn that I'd started in January 2014. The pattern is Madli's Shawl from the Knitted Lace of Estonia book, and I'd gotten halfway into the edging and lost myself about 20 stitches into the third or fourth row. Really not a lot of progress at all. This was one of those projects that demonstrates how much I've learned and improved over time, because not only did I not know why I had stopped, I found a mistake and dropped it down and fixed it in the lace (including dropping and recovering a nupp!), I was able to figure out where I was in the pattern and keep right on going with it, and I plowed my way through into the main body section while it had my attention. It has helped me to use the crochet hook method for nupps, which is to use a small crochet hook to knit or purl all the seven stitches together immediately after making them. Technically this makes you off by a row with that stitch, so you can slip it the next time you get there or just ignore it and move on, as it makes little difference. The hook I am using I originally purchased for beading. I think it's something like a 1mm, very small (fit through the center of an 8/0 bead), but my yarn is so thin that this is not a problem.

After I worked on the lace shawl for about a week, I suddenly cast on for a sweater. What? what is this madness? I had only just finished the  last sweater and I felt the urge to make a new one? But I did. It is a crocheted sweater called Anzen from Pom Pom Quarterly Issue 7, starts with a double-crochet-stitch yoke and then appears to be mostly half-double-crochet for the body. I immediately modified it in a thousand ways and had to rip out twice (three times now, I separated for the sleeves too soon), but it's proceeding and I'm almost into the body.

So, apparently what I crave after finishing so many things, this time, is a pile of big awkward tricky projects.

who would have thought?