Boring blog post title, yes. Boring sweater? Nope!
Other things that are not boring:
Homeless flowers from my neighbors’ wedding that I get to enjoy because they are honeymooning.
Biscuits.
This guy. Also, I’m healthy. Finally. And today I have class and some meetings that I should’ve had last week. It will certainly feel good to cross those things off the ever-looming to-do list.
Happy Friday!
I am by no means healthy, but progress (in the form of a hacking cough) is occurring. The good news is that my nose no longer begins to drip the second I look down, meaning that yesterday I was able to do some of my wallowing in illness while knitting.
Sickness trumps gift-knitting, so even though there are a few more WIPs to finish in the Christmas pile (Thuja for my uncle, that acrylic scarf for my mom), I decided that I could knit a few rows on my 28thirty yesterday. As you can see, I knit until it was time to separate the sleeve stitches from the body, and then I let my sniffeling self try it on before bedtime. I love how this is coming along, so much so that I think I am going to take it with on my mini-spring break weekend adventure to the Catskills. (Fingers crossed that my health is much improved by the morning.)
Yesterday I made a very simple couscous vegetable soup — saw this post over at everybody like sandwiches and decided that it was just the thing my sick self needed.
This guy has been a huge help to me this week. Dogs know when you don’t feel good, I think, because Boh has been extra kind in the cuddling and quiet time department. He has certainly earned some frolicking time in the Catskills!
It has been gently raining for the last several hours — maybe even all through the night, and I am sitting here with my first coffee cup of the day, listening to the different sounds of the drips on the driveway, the water hitting the branches of the pear tree by the window, the fat drops falling from the gutters in a different kind of rhythm, and I’m wishing that I didn’t have to go anywhere today.
We had a really nice weekend — a bit crazy busy in that both of our academic schedules had events and dinners and guests well into the weekend, but lovely in that we found time to hike in misty forests, pick our first bag of greens at the farm I joined, and discover a chili-cook off in the grocery store of a nearby town.
I failed to document these events with more than my mind’s eye, and I’ve been too busy to knit this week, so here are some snapshots of Monday morning.
I realize that the title of this post may inadvertently direct those looking for actual pictures of sweaters on dogs to my blog, and for that, I apologize. As you can see from Boh’s reaction, this is as close as we’re ever going to get to “sweater on dog”. I would, actually, consider knitting him something if (a) he seemed cold and (b) he didn’t LOVE destruction of knitted things. Surprisingly, he seems to understand the difference between WIP and FO. I can leave this on the couch for hours:
And he will sleep next to it. But if it were finished, and somewhere even the least bit accessible, it might become Boh’s next victim. (Psst. See how close to done I am with this ribbed baby jacket? I really like how it is turning out. My wrist has been a little sore from all of the work I’ve been doing on it, so I think I need to take another week to knit the rest of the ribbing and sew up the side seams — oh, and decide on a closure. What do you think? Button? No button? Snap?)
More classic Boh:
Boh laid like this for hours yesterday. Thinking hard? Needs a lot of blood flow to the brain?
And this. Such a tease. He didn’t actually read any of that book.
Coffee’s ready! Happy Thursday, all.
Good and good-for-us food was enjoyed, some reading was accomplished, and a cozy clapotis got some serious wear:
Back to it. What if Boh actually helped with the reading, instead of just lounging NEAR my books?
Hoping to get some in some knitting on that BSJ later on this afternoon. (No SuperBowl watching occurring here…) Happy Sunday, all.
One minute, the hat was where it always is when it is not on my head: in the basket by the door. The next, Boh is galloping gleefully through the apartment, a destroyed star-crossed slouchy beret in his mouth. At least he looks sad, right?
A few other things I’ve been working on:
Reacquainting myself with my kitchen (yay!) through pizza-making. (If you haven’t checked out Smitten Kitchen, do so now. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, etc. I love Everything I Make from Deb’s blog, and you should see the pile of printed out recipes in the kitchen queue.)
Also, dishcloth knitting — some thank yous for hosting us on our north country adventure:
Apologies for my link-laziness: it is unlikely that I will actually connect these patterns to their internet homes. Quick rav searches should do the trick…
So! I’ve been making lots of lists, clearing space on my bookshelves for a new semester’s pile o’ reading, and thinking big thoughts about what I’d like to accomplish this spring, and this year. I won’t bore you with the Grand Academic Plans And Worries just yet, but I do have lots of exciting knitting ideas. I recognize that purely by virtue of writing all of this down, I will not accomplish all of it, but at least I’ll be able to come back to this post for inspiration, should I need it throughout the year.
First up: sweater knitting, or rather, sweater completion!
Right now I have Brompton and 28thirty on the needles. I’m happy with how they are coming along, and I just need to find some slightly longer chunks of knitting time to feel like these are worth pulling out — a row here and there simply doesn’t work when you are trying to keep track of increases or knitting huge rows. I desperately want to wear these, though, and I really think I can get Brompton finished in time to turn it into the cozy grad school cardigan I have been envisioning forever!
Other sweaters on the list:
Valia (Santa brought me a bag of gorgeous Malabrigo and the pattern, and I’d love to have this ready for next fall’s holiday trips home, if not sooner.)
Drops Jacket (I’ve had yarn for this forever, love all the FOs I’ve seen, and my apartment gets cold in the afternoons. This is obvious, right?!)
Cobblestone (for me), Tangled Yoke, Salina, Francis…I have yarn that would work for all of these, and they all have long stretches of stockinette: exactly what the frazzled grad school mind requires.
Next up: Socks! I’ve been a member of the Yarn Pirate Sock Yarn Club this year, and I have a gorgeous stash of Georgia’s yarns, but I’ve been slow to turn them into socks. I’ve unsubscribed after this 3-month round as a way to motivate myself to knit with what I have. I think socks have finally clicked for me as great mindless knitting — I can now turn a heel on a basic sock without having to dig for the instructions, and socks really are perfect take-to-school for extra free moments waiting to meet with professors or for class to start. No specific pattern goals here, except to master the art of both toe up socks (I’m working on my first pair now) and the short row heel (mine are always hol-ey. I think Cat Bordhi will rescue me on this one, as a knitting friend pointed out last year).
I’m also working on learning to cable without a cable needle, so this year, I’d like to develop confidence/comfort with this technique.
Spinning goals: I think I’m finally getting the hang of (and the addiction to) spindle-spinning, and to this end, I want to make time each month to work on my spinning and learn how to ply. By the end of 2009. I’d love to spin up a 3-ply sock yarn to knit (toe up?) socks with.
All that should keep me busy, don’t you think?
Apologies for the blurriness, folks. We all know how hard it is to take pictures of one’s own feet. Details on these socks: Cascade 220 superwash, maybe 3/4 of a ball? I bought 2 balls to make a pair of men’s size 10.5 socks, and started a new ball for each sock. I made these with the leftovers. Same basic Ann Budd pattern, size 5 needles. My toes are nice and warm!
Also, this guy wants you to know that even though he is on vacation, he is getting a lot of work done on his green toy:
Boh is currently snoring loudly on the couch. He worked very hard today.
We’re nearing the end of the semester, and we both feel this way. Luckily, we’ve had a little bit of this:
It is time to really dig into the papers I have to write in order to finish out the semester, and I’m having a hard time locating my motivation to get into these particular projects. I realized this weekend that this is okay, and that the progress I’ve made this semester has required a lot of energy and effort, and it is beginning to catch up to me. I’m looking forward to the change of scenery my parents’ house will provide later on this week. I’ll certainly be bringing a pile o’ books with me, but I haven’t been home for Thanksgiving in several years, and I’m anticipating a whole lot of laughter and some personal battery recharging. I’ll also be bringing some knitting…
But probably not these! They just need to be kitchenered. I deceived the boy, and asked him to try them on because it is a new pattern and I wanted to be sure that they’d fit my father — the boy and my dad have similarly sized feet. Sock #1 fit perfectly! I am seriously considering gifting these now, just because.
Eek: two full days’ worth of work between me and turkey preparation. Must get back to it!
Friday afternoon, we went frolicking slightly further afield. We hopped in the car and headed south to a nearby state forest to stretch our muscles and allow our minds to unwind a bit from a busy week. If you’ve been reading, you know I’ve been looking for good boy sock patterns, and the hang-up I’ve been facing has to do with how “fancy” sock patterns and sock yarn can be. I’ve settled on some socks made out of good, old-fashioned Cascade 220 superwash, as the feet they are intended for spend most of their time in hiking boots, romping through the woods.
Here’s what I’ve got so far — I’m using size 5 needles, and keeping my fingers crossed that the fabric is dense enough to support the amount of use I hope these get. Should I be thinking about carrying nylon thread along with the yarn for the heel? I should be reading right now, but I’d so much rather be working on these socks — or better still, off in the woods with boy and dog.
Here’s a picture of my reading companion. If only he’d start pulling his weight around here…
Back to the books. Have a great Sunday!
Check out my kale flower! The recipient of my most recent boy hat and I visited the farmers’ market this weekend to procure supplies for a lazy saturday in the kitchen. As we wandered around the market, me with this lovely blossom in my arms, it seemed as though everyone had kale-flower envy. We came home with 5 pounds of regular beets, several butternut squash, a few fat carrots and these chiogga beets.
Much beet pickling and squash soup making occurred, and the results were delicious. Last weekend, we made applesauce.
I’ve been eating it right out of the jar. Contrary to what this post may lead you to believe, I’m still knitting. I just can’t share my most recent project quite yet, and I haven’t made enough noticeable progress on my other WIPs to justify posting more photos. Soon…
Here’s a gratuitous shot of Boh, enjoying laundry day in the sun:
It’s going to be a crazy week in the schoolwork department. See you on the other side!
barefoot rooster 