Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. Anyway, not much to report around here — just slow and steady progress on the hap blanket. And a sweet, snoring dog keeping me company.
hap-pening.
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Category Archives: knitting
heels and a hap.
Crazy, right? I tend to always vote for sensible over sexy in the shoe department, but I’m attending wedding #4 (of 8 this year) next weekend, and I realized that I do not have non-summery shoes suitable for black-tie-optional affairs. (And, you know, teaching. I’m teaching a course I designed this spring, and I figure that being the “instructor of record” might warrant tall shoes. It could also be that I am missing M., a friend currently traveling the back roads of the deep South for research. She wears tall shoes.)
Anyway, I ordered two pairs, and decided to keep them both. Here’s the first pair. I actually wore these to the coffee shop earlier this week to “practice.” No wipe-outs. And I feel awesome in these shoes. (Years ago I would have shied away from shoes like this, both for practical — a broken toe from my rugby days — and political — as affirming certain cultural ideas about prettiness/beauty — reasons. The toe has healed, though, and while my politics are perhaps more radical and feminist than ever, they’re also more nuanced.)
So, I love them. And while they aren’t the most comfortable shoes I own (hello, flip-flops), they’re for me, and nobody else, and I think they’ll give me that extra boost of confidence I’m realizing I need to attend so many weddings this year by myself.
Speaking of which, also on the wedding to-do list was to decide on a gift. Ages ago I thought I’d knit a pinwheel blanket, which seems to be my go-to wedding gift knit, but when the time came to cast on (okay, really the time should have come a few weeks ago), I just wasn’t feeling inspired. I really like the idea of giving a lap blanket because it is cozy (perhaps cozy enough for two — and certainly cozy enough for two newlyweds) and not super gender-specific. This next wedding is the wedding of one of my best guy friends from college, so I want to knit something that feels like it is for him (though I also really like the woman he is marrying, and think they are a great fit).
After a lot of digging around ravelry, I settled on the Hap Blanket, by Ysolda Teague. I’m using two greens — a greyish green heather, and a deeper olive/army green for the contrast color, both in Cascade 220. I’m following some super thoughtful mods I located on a few projects: provisional cast-on, and revised numbers for worsted weight yarn. I don’t think I’ll have this done in time for the wedding, but I’ll bring it to knit on the plane, and then I can send it to the bride and groom shortly afterwards. (They’re getting married not where they live, so I feel like sending it to them at home is best.)
I love squishy garter stitch. So cozy and warm and home-y. Other things that fit this description?
Garlicky chard and toast. Also, this guy:
Yep. I love this dog. Boh and I are going to settle in for an evening of knitting on the couch. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
more booty.
Apologies for the blog silence — I headed home for that baby shower (taking an unfinished booty with me), and then took a brief trip to see my grandmother out of state, and then got back here on Tuesday morning to work on a grant application. Whew! Finished that yesterday, and blogging is at the top of today’s non-work to-do list.
Here’s an iPhone shot of the second booty, just before kitchenering, and then the pair, just before wrapping. My cousin seemed to really like them at the shower — let’s hope the baby does, too! I haven’t done any knitting since finishing these on Saturday morning, maybe because I don’t have any knitting that is both portable and free of charts or counting. I should probably fix that by casting on for something new for me, like socks, though I certainly have lots more baby and wedding gifts to knit over the next several months.
None of these are recent FOs, but here’s the pile of handknits I sent to Occupy Wall Street last week. The weather is getting cold, and these handknits can be more useful there than here in my basket o’ warm things. (Side note: I should really consider knitting myself another hat with a pompom.)
And here’s a shot of the lake. The fall color has been absolutely stunning this year, but even so, the transition to winter is sort of exciting because of the way my view is changing. Now that the leaves have mostly fallen, I can see the lake even from my perch on the couch in the family room.
On blog posts and traffic: I noticed that a lot of people (500+) visited my blog last week when I posted about the first booty. Perhaps they were expecting something else? I’ll let you know if the same thing happens today…
booty.
I’d prefer booties, but I only have one. See, I started (and finished!) this booty the same day I bound off the second unfancy sock in this gorgeous shibui sock yarn. And then I set it aside smugly, thinking that I had plenty of time remaining to finish the second booty in time for a baby shower that wasn’t until November. Except now it is November. And the shower is Saturday. Guess what I’m doing tonight and tomorrow morning, if necessary? (You guessed it.)
The front view is a little awkward, but I love the garter stripe. (In fact, that’s a big part of the name of this pattern: garter stripe baby socks.) I made a few modifications after looking at ravelry projects: basically, I eliminated the toe ridge and knit a regular toe, kitchenering when I had 12 st remaining (6 front, 6 back).
The good news? I think I managed to use my need to knit this booty to finish the revisions on my prospectus. It is sitting here, all pretty and printed out, waiting for me to read it one more time before sending it off to my chair. Sometimes I find it challenging to stop certain kinds of tasks from filling the time available (mostly my own writing, probably because it can always be better), and the deadlines I set for myself don’t always work. I may have met my (self-imposed) deadline for these revisions because of the firm deadline for the second booty. Maybe.
Anyway, enough rambling about that. Time to walk Boh and knit this (adorable) booty!
shake it out.*
A slow start today, folks. Yesterday I managed to get some serious revision done on the prospectus. (The trick? A five o’clock latte. I think I’m starting to resign myself to the fact that I need an afternoon change of scenery and a fancy espresso drink to get shit done and feel good doing it.) Boh looks like he could use a latte, and it isn’t even noon.
I’m making slow, steady progress on that BSJ I started a few weeks ago. I love this shade of green — so bright, so happy.
Here’s the side view of that sweet pout. Looks like somebody needs to give Florence and the Machine’s new album a listen. Seriously. I downloaded it yesterday, and it got me through a whole sink of dishes. There’s something about Florence Welch’s particular brand of big and epic that I love. (*”Shake It Out” is the second track on Ceremonials.)
more fall (this time, with handknits).
Yesterday afternoon I met up with dear friend T. and her very handsome son W. for a walk in a nearby state park. Boh was so excited to be on an adventure that he could barely hold still to have his photo taken!
The weather is growing cool and crisp, and these awesome birthday mitts from brokeknits were just what I needed. Hooray for mitt weather!
After our walk, it was time for me to get back to work, and there was no way that was going to happen curled up on the couch with a very happy dog. I put on my wurm cowl and headed out to a coffee shop.
I think this is going to get a lot of wear this fall and winter. Thanks, you guys, for convincing me that the colors wouldn’t be too crazy for me. Off to yoga!
beginning again.
Long-time readers will recognize this yarn as the Dream in Color Smooshy that I intended to turn into a Baby Surprise Jacket in February of 2009 for my advisor’s youngest son. I did a less than perfect job of lining up the increases, though, so when it was super close to being finished, I ripped it out, put the yarn on a shelf somewhere, and knit a Baby Sophisticate out of Mission Falls 1824. (It was adorable, and the right idea, as the baby in question was a big baby, and I’m not sure the BSJ would have fit him for very long.) Anyway, lots more babies are on the way in my circle of friends, so over the weekend I found the Dream in Color Smooshy, along with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s brilliant BSJ recipe, and cast on. Right now this fits into a sock project bag, so I’m bringing it with me on my research trip.
And this? Well, it isn’t quite a beginning, but I had to share this picture of an enormous plate of dumplings enjoyed by candlelight on the porch. My cousin and her husband were here for a few days last week. They are in the midst of an epic year of traveling, and in a few weeks, they’ll wrap up the North American segment of their adventures and head to the other side of the world. They’re going to spend three months in Southeast Asia, so we made dumplings. (I’m hoping they’ll visit my favorite dumpling shop in Vientiane, Lao PDR.) I’m so excited for them.
Speaking of traveling, time for me to stop blogging and get back to packing for this week’s research trip. More soon!
FO(s): lucy socks and shaking leaves handspun.
First, thank you all for your kind blogiversary comments. I can’t believe it has been four years, and I hope I’m still finding joy in this space four years from now.
Yesterday I finished my Lucy handspun socks. I had a lot going on this week, and it shows in these socks: one of them seems a bit tighter than the other. I’m sure with a bit of wear the snug sock will loosen up. I’m fascinated by the way my emotions find their way into my knitting, by the physical (and often, subconscious) expression of things often kept inside, and by the porousness of boundaries. Stress in one area leads to tighter stitches in another. So it goes.
Also, I love these socks. So much. (And for future reference, they were 64 stitch socks, loosely based on the deeper heel flap option of the Knitmore Girls Vanilla Sock.) I did a less than perfect job of splitting my yarn, and I bet I could have added another inch to the leg of each sock. I tucked the leftovers into a bag of lots of colorful handspun bits and pieces. Looking forward to doing something fun with those.
Speaking of handspun, this gorgeous stuff has been patiently awaiting FO photos and a blog post. It is Hello Yarn Finn in the Shaking Leaves colorway, and I spun it as a 2-ply squishy worsted. I’m not sure what this wants to be: a hat? a squishy, simple cowl? It has been sitting here on the coffee table so long that I accidentally recycled the envelope I used to make my notes on the yardage. I think I’ve got somewhere between 140 and 180 yards.
Also, it has become fully fall here, which means I’ve been wearing my handknits. See?
The unfancy socks and terra. At the same time. Life is good.
Today, after a bit of reading, I’m picking up my dear friend H. and her son, and we’re heading to the orchard for cider doughnuts and maybe some apple picking. Later, I’ll be packing, as my last scheduled research trip starts tomorrow — back next weekend. I’m bringing both knitting and handknits with me, so I’ll aim to at least document them both in the wild.
four.
Today is my blogiversary. Has it really been four years? To celebrate, I got my blog a present: its very own domain. You can now find us at barefootroosterDOTcom, though the wordpress home will automatically point you to the new domain. (Everything else is staying the same — still hosted at and by wordpress. I’m not that technologically fancy!) RSS feeds should still work, but if they don’t let me know.
Also, thanks for being here, for reading, for commenting, and for knitting, spinning, and cooking with me. I say this every year, and I’ll keep saying it because it is true: I’ve found more community on the internets than I ever thought possible. Thanks for being part of it.
autumn is for knitters.
You know, like Virginia is for Lovers. Snapped these last two shots this morning before dashing out the door to meet a friend for breakfast. It is a grey fall day, perfect for a knitted layer like whisper, which is currently adding just the right amount of cozy to a day of reading on the couch. (I’m reading, not writing, today because I finished a draft of my prospectus last night. It’s still very much a draft, but it feels good to have something real on paper.)
barefoot rooster 