For Ivan

You know how some things just make your hormones go out of whack, just from looking at them?

Yeah, me too.

Pattern: Placket-Neck Pullover, by Joelle Hoverson from LMKG
Yarn: Cotton-Ease in Light Blue (2 Skeins) and Lime (1 Skein)
Needles: size 7 bamboo 24" circs and dpns


One of my mother's college roommates just adopted a 2 year old from Russia, named Ivan. I thought that the boy should have at least one handknit sweater, since I'm sure otherwise he would have to take guff from the uppity NYC babies. I also was entranced by the idea of a baby sweater. A sweater? A small one? Genius! I am yet too young for my friends (or me, for that matter) to be popping out kids, so welcoming Ivan to our crazy if loving extended family with a sweater seemed appropriate.
The pattern is wonderful - the only changes I made were to give it stripes and to not fasten the placket all the way. My brothers and I all had huge heads, so while I wish the best for the boy, I wanted to plan for all contingencies. I hope Ivan has a wonderful and warm first year here (and the rest of his life, for that matter.)

And me?


I recommend knitting baby sweaters. It really takes the edge off.


In other news, do these pictures look better? They were taken by our excellent Nikon D50, which I am in love with and will one day actually know how to use. And its not just great for handknits...


The noble California burrowing owl says hi.

Of Course

When I am at work, I am perfectly capable of focusing on one thing at a time. For example, I am currently working on two experiments, giving each its due consideration each day and never ignoring one for the other. I definitely don't sit around all day thinking about how I am bored with my experiments and that there are all of these other experiments that are not only more interesting, but may actually bring more light and joy into my life and I have to start them RIGHT NOW.

However, that is how I seem to feel about my knitting.

With a considerable number of WIPs, (hint: I'm embarassed to put them all on ravelry) including the one that I cast on last night because I have to go to the dentist this morning and I hate that dentist and I should have whatever I want when I have to go get poked my metal things, I still somehow can't be happy with them. Some of them are beautiful, almost all are warm, and I would be proud to finish any of them and wear them with the happiness that they are due. However, even with all of that, all I can think of is this:

Link

Damn you knitty. Damn you and your beautiful extra projects that would look amazing on me and probably be great to knit.

I want that sweater. I may even have yarn in my stash for it...

No sleep makes limulus go crazy

So after an overnight experiment in lab (the squid aren't on the same day/night schedule as I am) I am a little crazier and probably coming down with a cold. I would whine more, but I a) got data and b) am in lab right now, so I can't complain because I'm obviously a glutton for pain and am doing this to myself. Right now I'm washing specimens, so I have time to post about some things that I haven't posted about yet.

FO:
The Unoriginal hat:

Name: I was going to make up some pithy name for this project, but let's be honest here. It is called the unoriginal hat, and I'm going to keep the name. My brain isn't built for creativity right now. By Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Ravelry tells me that I made this out of Farmhouse Yarns Woodland Spun in Natural. Gotta love that website. The yarn is also great. It is a little itchy for my freak-out skin, but it is wonderful and wooly and I love it and wears like iron.
Size: Big-headed. (23")
Needles: size 11 bamboo dpns.
Verdict: it is stretching out a little bit, but I love it. Everyone should have one - and according to ravelry, that eventuality is progressing apace.

WIPs:
1. Tangled Yoke Cardigan:

This is a perfect case study in why I'm obviously a singularly confusing individual. The yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed) is amazing, as is the colour (Rage). However, I haven't been working on it because...I don't know. By the way, I don't have any clue why this colour is called rage. Because its red? It is this perfect cherry red with light blue and brown flecks. Amazing.

2. Central Park Hoodie:

Hello. This colour in no way represents real life.

So this is what I've been working on instead of the tangled yoke, since I obviously have somehow developed a deep and undying need to make the most popular knitting projects around. Obviously after all of those years of not understanding popular culture I have stumbled onto a culture where I do. In any case, this thing is fun to knit, and amazingly enough, easy enough to keep track of that I can knit it on the bus, much to the chagrin to the people standing next to me who stare enviously at me, somehow thinking that the precious space that my knitting occupies could somehow be given to them. Sorry dudes, I don't think physics works that way. Also, you're not getting anywhere near my lap.

I'm knitting this sucker in Peace Fleece, which while not exactly being next-to-the-skin material, is a beautiful, beautiful yarn. It is a deep teal heather/tweed which the old camera can capture worth a damn for some reason. Lame camera, very lame. I finished the back and hopefully I will finish it in time to chase some of the super-cold away.

3. Phiaro Scarf:

The crappy picture fairy strikes again.

Right now this a stockinette tube of soysilk. I hope one day it will be a beautiful, drapey scarf which will make me look like a movie star at the conference in Hawaii in March and will distract everyone from the fact that I haven't done any sort of physical activity in a while that doesn't involve swearing at the snow or broken elevators. Right now though, I just keep looking at the picture in knitscene and hoping that I can keep at it for long enough to see it be come a scarf. It has a really neat construction though. You basically knit a tube, then drop about half the stitches (in an artistic way, of course) to make it long enough, and then cut the last column of dropped stitches and make it into fringe. Pretty neat, eh? That Katie Himmelberg is one smart cookie.

4. Placket-Neck Pullover:
OK, I just figured out that I brought the wrong cable and therefore can not show you the picture of this almost-finished baby sweater. All I have left is the underarm seams. The UNDERARM SEAMS. I'm obviously a lazy shmuck. I hope that I get it sent out before Ivan is old enough to buy a ticket and fly out here to tell me that it is too small.


In other exciting news, The Boy and I have procured a Nikon D50 for ourselves as a Christmas present, which means that soon the pictures on here will get a whole lot better. However, I'm still scared of breaking it, so it may be a while before you get to see the results.

Peace out my lovelies - I'm off to go wash samples. And tonight there will be cosmic bowling. That should help my crazy, right?

New Year

Well, The Boy and I are in CA for the new year, after having Christmas in CT, so I haven't had much chance to tend to the blog. I do have time for a quick Christmas gift update, however.



Pattern: Misty Garden by Jo Sharp, from Scarf Style
Yarn: Mountain Colors Mohair, 1 skein in Evergreen, I think
Needles: Size 9 bamboo circulars
Verdict: This was for mother-of-The-Boy, and he reports that she loves it especially, since she had just misplaced most of her scarves in the big move of 07-08. One skein nicely gives a decent-sized scarf (about 5' before blocking). I originally was a little miffed that a simple feather and fan scarf would get published in a book, but it worked out beautifully and the purl rows stop it from curling, so I loved it. Went right quick too.


Pattern: Irish Hiking Scarf, by Adrian of Hello Yarn
Yarn: Random bulky Merino
Needles: 10.5 U.S. bambooo circs
Verdict: MY mom liked it. I felt bad since it was a little shorter than my mom likes her scarves, but since it was a little thick, she said that it was perfect. Yay! The yarn was great, but since I can't remember exactly what it was, that statement is useless.

Sorry for the crappy pictures guys - Transferring pictures from the new and fancy camera efficiently hasn't quite been worked out yet. Rest assured, the boy and I will have things up and running once we get back to Wisconsin. (BTW, the boy hat is in 100 queues and has 33 projects in Ravelry! Boy howdy am I excited! P.S. - Yes, I am nerdy enough to say boy howdy)


Political diversion: Can I get a congratulations for Barack in Iowa?! I don't know how the man did it, but am I glad he did. He's kind of my hero and I hope he goes all the way, especially since I'm tired of this 50s era "I'm a woman and lived in the White House so of course I'm fit for the presidency" BS that Hillary is spewing out. If that were the case then Ms. Lewinsky would probably be eligible too. Speaking as a woman I would like the first female president to be a) competent, b) not evil and c)confident. Can Congresswoman Pelosi please stand up? In short, I'm behind you Barack, and I hope most other people are too.

I hope everyone had a great set of holidays, and a further update will be coming soon.

Peace out.