all lila, all the time.

Posted on April 5, 2014 by barefootrooster

So that thing I said yesterday about balancing knitting and writing didn’t really happen. But it was the Friday of my spring break week, so I think it’s allowed. Yesterday I finished knitting the body of Lila and started the first sleeve.

I’m following the pattern as written even though I’m a little worried that the length/style of this sweater might not be quite right for my shape. We’ll see!

Boh set his head down on my needle case as soon as I unrolled it to find dpns for the first sleeve. Sweet, sweet dog.

The garter stitch sleeve cuff.

Serious sleeve progress.

Checking the snugness (so far so good) after some knitting with my coffee this morning! Today I do need to write, but I’m hoping to reward myself with at least a few knitting breaks. Happy weekend!

cast on, can’t stop.

Posted on April 4, 2014 by barefootrooster

I have no idea what happened, but on Wednesday night, all of a sudden all I wanted to do was knit. And so I started poking around Ravelry and my stash, and decided that Lila, a pullover with an interesting hemline, was what I needed to be knitting. Immediately. So I bought the pattern, dug out some special yarn (a bag of Schaefer Miss Priss worsted in a lovely variegated gray that I got for knitting a sample maybe five years ago), wound up two balls of it, and cast on.

Well, first I swatched. And then I washed it, and decided my numbers were close enough to gauge that I could start the sweater and then confirm my sizing/needle choice in the morning. (Which worked.)

I’d gotten this far on the garter hem by the time I went to bed on Wednesday night.

And finished the garter hem and began the short rows on Thursday morning.

And Thursday night, I’d knit several inches of the body. I haven’t had this “just one more row” feeling in quite awhile, and I love that it’s back. Here’s hoping I can balance knitting with some solid dissertation writing today. (And happy Friday!)

shawls and scarves.

Posted on March 29, 2014 by barefootrooster

They are the best knitted things for coping with a never-ending winter. I haven’t picked up the needles in the last month, but I have been wrapping myself in warm things. And some of the times I do this, I remember to snap a picture. So, some knits in action. (And, of course, Boh in action.)

Snowbird and Boh keeping me warm on the couch.

Stripe study shawl.

Just Boh in action. Here he’s “helping” with my pile of grading.

Handspun eternity scarf — it matches my jacket perfectly!

Lightweight cowl — I don’t even remember the name of this pattern, but it’s got a loose-knit ribbing that drapes beautifully.

Spring break starts this morning, which means I can pause all of my teaching prep (for most of the week, anyway) and focus on my dissertation. I’m hoping to get a lot of writing done, and Boh is hoping for longer walks. Seems reasonable. (And maybe there will be time for knitting?)

almost all boh; no new knitting.

Posted on February 21, 2014 by barefootrooster

Sometimes I have to put on pretty shoes (or any shoes) to get some writing done.

I baked myself a cake: strawberry buttermilk cake, to be precise. (Based on that Smitten Kitchen raspberry buttermilk cake that I’ve totally made and linked to, here, many times. Of course, too lazy to track down the link right now…)

Wrinkles and snoring.

This blue vest is my new favorite thing — it’s the birthday present I bought for myself. (Do you do this? If not, you should.)

Another handspun eternity scarf in action. This is the first one I knit.

I picked a fight with the driveway the other day. A sheet of ice, courtesy of some early morning freezing rain, means that I’ve got a bloody knuckle and a banged up hip. Tough to get old. My students were sweet, though — I held up my fist and one of them said, “What’s the other guy look like?”

This face is what I saw when I woke up on Thursday — I’d been trying to sleep in, and I didn’t set an alarm. Hello, sweetness.

Boh seems to know that I’m in the market for a little extra puppy love these days. I’ll take it.

Oh. My. Goodness. I swear, he puts that bone around his leg like a bracelet all by himself.

And then proceeds to take a nap.

Snowbird in action.

Boh performs “lap dog” quite well sometimes. Happy Friday, friends.

FO: houseguest handspun seaman’s cap

Posted on February 17, 2014 by barefootrooster

For those of you who’ve been following along, last month I finished the handspun seaman’s cap for P., our October houseguest. He was kind enough to send along this shot of the hat in action AND to let me put his face on the internet:

Pretty sure this picture comes from some ice caves in the Apostle Islands. (P. works remotely, and is adventuring westward. Right now, I think he’s in Montana.)

This was a super fun project to work on, especially because P. gave me extensive feedback on the fit, both during and after the knitting. (And he picked out the fiber.)

Sounds like this time around the fit in the crown is just right, but the ribbing could be more snug. (Snugger? That can’t be right.) I wonder if the issue is the sproinginess (to continue making up words) of my handspun? (I am a little rusty in the spinning department these days.) I couldn’t have knit the ribbing on needles that were any smaller, and the stitch count seems to be right for the rest of the hat. Would a 1×1 rib be tighter than a 1×2 rib? You know, for next time.

Alright. Time to stop writing on the blog and get back to writing the dissertation. Happy Monday, folks.

february.

Posted on February 16, 2014 by barefootrooster

Hello, friends. This is pretty much what it looks like here at Chez Rooster. Except there’s more snow. (Which means there’s been a lot more shoveling…)

Sweetness from Boh.

A ridiculous outfit I found myself wearing sometime last week, and had to document.

Wrinkles. Snoring. Swoon.

Some mornings, this is the look I wake up to.

And some knits in action. Because if I’m not really knitting right now, at least I should be enjoying handknits, right? (Also, forgive this silly pose. If I want my neck in the picture, which is where the knitwear is, but also want you to be able to see my boots, some awkward posing is necessary. And I’m sure the hand on the hip is thanks to plenty of social conditioning. I cringe.)

I have been wearing the heck out of this handspun eternity scarf. I think the fiber was Pigeonroof Studios merino, and it is so so so soft.

Some grading and editing work at the coffee shop this morning. I treated myself to a dinosaur cookie.

Boh and I are hanging in there — lots of things are up in the air, and the to-do pile grows ever larger. Thankful for a long weekend to try to catch up a little bit. Hope you’re all well — and warm in your knits!

routine.

Posted on January 19, 2014 by barefootrooster

First up, I knit a tiny hat for my best friend’s son. He’s just about six months old, and I’m hoping this will help keep him warm this winter.

Boh’s ears have been particularly entertaining this week.

Snowbird’s out-of-the-house debut! You can see here that the shoulders aren’t quite right; I think they are too shallow for my arms. But the most important part of Snowbird is that it covers my butt. Perfect for covering up for heading to the gym. (Boots because of the snow!)

More sweetness, and a huge arugula salad.

Yup.

“Helping.” No matter that his ears are actually in the way.

One ear up for couch lounging.

And this series is from this morning.

From a look of complete boredom–what, you don’t like my conclusion?

To full-on, quite loud snoring. I love this dog.

the new year.

Posted on January 15, 2014 by barefootrooster

This is what getting ready for a conference looks like, especially as I’m still working to put together appropriate academic “costumes” for myself.

The conference I attended just after New Year’s was back in DC, which meant plenty of time to see dear friends. And admire bike racks outside coffee shops.

No trip to DC is complete for me without Teaism. Its proximity to the museum I was working at last winter helped solidify it as the place for comfort food: really good chai, restorative spicy chicken noodle soup, amazing salty oat cookies. The polar vortex extended my DC trip, which mostly meant I ate more of all of the things at Teaism.

I’ve been borrowing this sweatshirt for more than a decade. How crazy/wonderful is that? (Just when I’m visiting and cold.)

A beautiful latte at the Tryst inside the Phillips Collection.

And my lovely workspace inside Champ and N.’s fantastic apartment.

The hat for P. wasn’t quite right (he tried it on in DC) so I ripped back and reknit it.

I think it turned out even prettier the second time around, and I’m hoping it fits perfectly. I’m in between knitting projects right now — I need to find something simple and soothing to balance everything else going on in this week before the semester begins. So much to do!

at year’s end: a baby hat, an eternity scarf, a hat project.

Posted on January 12, 2014 by barefootrooster

A baby hat for my cousin’s second daughter, born a few weeks before Christmas Day. (I enjoyed some serious baby time on Christmas Day, the wee one out cold in my arms. This hat is too big for her, but she was wearing it anyway. Yay!)

Our traditional Christmas Eve meal: French onion soup and quiche Lorraine. This might be the first time I’ve ever snapped a picture of it.

Also traditional: the Christmas Bloody Mary. Yum.

This is the beginning of a hat project for P., our October houseguest. Everything in the house broke that week, and P. was pretty awesome about helping with (read: doing) re-lighting the pilot light on my furnace, locating the source of the water spraying all over my basement, and keeping me company on the porch while we waited for the power company to check out a potential gas leak. These are not the sorts of things houseguests are supposed to do, and so I volunteered to make him a hat! Stay tuned for more in progress pictures of this handspun seaman’s cap.

Plyed, but not washed yet.

A Boh interlude.

More Boh, and the beginnings of a handspun eternity scarf I knit for myself amidst work-related stress.

That was fast. This is merino I spun at least a year ago and it is SO soft.

Here’s the beginning of P.’s hat. Such lovely dude colors.

And here’s Boh, cuddling with my bright pink Mara shawl. And that should get us to the New Year. I’ll be back soon with more knitting and spinning from the beginning of 2014. (And thanks, you guys, for the comments, and for being here. I’m sorry I’m so behind on comments. I might just archive them and try to start fresh with my responding. Thanks for understanding.)

FO: snowbird.

Posted on December 19, 2013 by barefootrooster

I love the pockets.

The sweater is a little slouchy, but overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. And just in time, too. These pictures are from last month, but since then, we’ve had cold and snowy weather.

Sweetness.

Squash soup.

A few pictures from the last good fall walk we took before the weather turned.

This light. So lovely.

It’s been a very busy fall around here, folks. So busy that I missed my blogiversary! Six years and counting now, even though I’ve slowed down a bit recently. Hope you’re all well.

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barefoot rooster

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