Monthly Archives: April 2009

before blocking and buttons.

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complete-on-bed

blurry28thirty

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Hooray! I’m going to dunk it in a warm bath with some wool wash and lay it out to block and dry, but had to take some celebratory pictures first. I also managed to place a few bids on vintage button lots on ebay before heading to class — they may take a few days to get here, but this way I’ll have oodles of mismatched buttons to play with in the future!

storm

It is snowing right now, though none of it has accumulated yet. Apparently that may occur overnight. Here’s a shot of the first rain-into-snow storm cloud approaching on Monday. I know it isn’t quite as dramatic as the out-my-front-door pictures I used to take in the desert, but it felt good to dash back inside for the camera last night. I haven’t done that in awhile!

I’ll conclude with pure cuteness:

cuteness

Awww. I’ll do a wrap up post with specs/mods once I get 28thirty blocked and buttoned. I’m so excited!

28thirty weather.

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I had forgotten what a tease spring can be in certain parts of the country. Clearly I need to just enjoy sunshine and flip-flop weather when it comes, and stop expecting that it will stick around. The only positive thing I can see in today’s rainy yuckiness (and the week’s similarly cold and rainy forecast) is that I may actually finish my 28thirty in time to have a weather-appropriate day to wear it out of the house. I’m past the left elbow now, and steadily approaching the wrist!

leftsleeveclose

leftsleevealmost

Soon. Very soon. I still haven’t found my reading mojo, and I wonder if this sweater is holding it hostage. I mean, I’m getting my regular reading done for class, but it is time to tackle my writing projects for the semester, and while I’ve acquired quite the pile of library books, I seem to find other things to do (like scrubbing the top of the stove) when I should be systematically note-taking in order to get a handle on my papers.  Sigh.

As part of yesterday’s “cleaning trumps reading” mentality, I washed a bunch of handknits, and thought you might like to see them drying all over my apartment — above dog level, of course.

washing-handknits

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Also, while making a quick, mission-driven stop at my LYS to pick up a specific yarn for a future project, I impulsively snatched up a copy of the Spring IK, as the Whisper Cardigan has been calling my name on Ravelry. I dug through my stash, and discovered some gorgeous Knitpicks Shadow in Redwood Forest that I bought on sale last year sometime.

whisper-excitement

This will be perfect for spring! I’m not quite ready to cast on yet, but when I do, I think I’ll be using some of the more popular mods — ribbing the sleeve cuffs and keeping an eye on sleeve and body length, and ribbing the lower edge of the body to limit the rolling. I have a few other projects to focus on before I start this, but I am excited about this sweater!

Time to devote my attention to (a) my mug of coffee and (b) preparing for my first class. Hope your week is off to a good start!

friday.

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bohbone1

bohbone2

Just in case it was unclear, that is Boh’s bone. Let’s move on to my sweater:

sleeve2-28thirty

I can already tell that this sleeve is going to move much faster. With the right sleeve, I was trying it on after every couple decrease rows (see my modifications in an earlier post) in order to find a sleeve circumference that worked for me. With the left sleeve, I know to work down to 44 st and then work even until the wrist, where I did a few more decrease rows and then the basketweave cuff. I’m not the only one around here who is excited about 28thirty!

bohinvestigates-28thirty

Remember my Sunday Market Shawl? I dug it out this week because I had a few lectures to attend, and I am almost through the first ball of yarn.

sms3

I’ve been rather appalled at the disrespect for the person at the front of the room at the larger events and talks I’ve attended this year, and I certainly don’t want to be lumped into the category of undergrads who stay only long enough to write a response, or who text and facebook/watch movies through most of a talk, only to make lots of noise while leaving during the already harder-to-hear Q&A. I understand that sometimes people need to leave early, and if you’re thoughtful about it, there’s absolutely no problem. It is this consumption mentality, the idea that these opportunities are bought and sold and thus devoid of the need for basic courtesies, that has been driving me nuts lately.

ETA: There are lots of thoughtful, engaged, respectful undergrads here, and I do not mean to suggest that the behavior I’m responding to is universal. I’m ranting about the handful who seem to think that basic courtesies do not apply in university lecture halls. (Hey, you! You’re making your friends look bad!)

I write all this to say that I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to knit at a lecture, and I’ve settled on sitting further back in the room, bringing only mindless knitting, and making an effort to connect to the speaker through eye contact, to make it clear to him/her that my hands are not distracting me from the content. So far, this feels like a reasonable approach.

One last photo:

bohgreenfleece

This guy is paying attention!

Hope you have a great weekend, and that spring weather makes an appearance wherever you are.

resistance = futile.

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This applies both to massaman curry and the WEBS anniversary sale. First, the curry:

curry

curry2

curry3

The boy has been raving about this particular massaman curry paste from one of the Asian grocery shops near his house. Last week he brought me my own container. Yum. I made a regular four-serving batch, as directed by the instructions on the curry paste, complete with tofu, potatoes and onions, and these are my leftovers! I have been eating this all week, and it is delicious.

Today marks the start of April, but it also (and more importantly?) is the first day of the WEBS anniversary sale. As this blog post’s title implies, I’ve already clicked the “complete purchase” button, and a healthy dose of eco-wool (for a hemlock ring blanket, an owls sweater, and maybe linden or shalom), as well as some classic elite silky alpaca lace (ishbel is building my lace confidence) and some jo sharp dk wool (for bracken) should be en route to my doorstep soon.

Speaking of ishbel, my version has graduated to “blob” status. It is too big to stretch out all pretty on its circular needle, so here it is in a big heap.

ishbelblob

I’ve finished the stockinette portion for the large size, which means it is time for lace. Wish me luck!