There's been a lot of changes over the past year (which is part of why I haven't been blogging these days (apparently, for over a year!) This does not mean that I took a hiatus from knitting. I also made this sweater--the Embrace Octopus sweater. It is extremely thick and warm--and even though the yoke was a little bit of a pain to knit, it really does look awesome.

(Link to the pattern is here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/embrace-octopus-sweater-pattern)

Last fall, I finished this:

(Sideways, but I think you get the idea...)

This...

And this. 

It's been a long time...

Oh yeah, it's been a long time. Life gets in the way; life just happens and somehow, I just didn't feel like blogging much. I'm still working on my dissertation, have gone out of town three times this summer (making it 4 trips that I've taken in 2012). Research continues to progress as well.

In case you are wondering, this summer I went to Arizona (convention), Philippines (during typhoon season to visit family), and Wisconsin (presentation). So it was very busy.

And so does knitting. Some socks done (boring ones and I don't even remember which ones!) and a few more puffs, bringing my total up to over 100. Less than 120. I've also been working on a sweater too, Kimonito: 

I cannot wait for this sweater to be done. I'm working on the second sleeve at the moment--I want to see if I can get a lot done this weekend because I just want to wear this sweater! My suggestion is that it is a snug knit so if you want something more loose and tunic-like, go up one size! 

And I am doing a swap on Ravelry, so this is my handmade item. Also a very good way to stash-bust.

back from my hiatus

I took a break from this blog for a while. Not sure why, but I just felt like I had to, and in the meantime, I just focused on my life, work, school, and so forth. Actually, life was just busy enough, even without this blog and updating it. I have been knitting, but I got enticed by the siren call of the puffs. If you've not heard of the puffs, these are just addictive. It all starts with one single puff, made of leftover sock yarn. Pretty soon, the next thing I knew, I cast on for a second one. Then a third. And so forth. Now I've amassed somewhere around 80 puffs in the past three or four months, and I know it's going to take a while--but eventually all these puffs will become a quilt for ME.

And you know what? A lot of other things got neglected, like this:

And this:

And those nightingale socks that I started last time, too.



In non-knitting news, the end of the semester is almost here. Thank goodness.

New projects

In June, I finished my Aaargh!Gyle socks and felt like casting on for a new project. I have been dying to knit more fair isle projects, and I decided to knit the Nightingale socks. So far, i've gotten up to right before the heel/gusset, and because I've been lazy, I haven't progressed farther than that. Plus, I was a bit stressed out over school and my research proposal (defense for the proposal is next week). 

In June, I also went to my college reunion. Each time I have been back to the town where my undergraduate college is, i have never, ever been able to make it to the yarn store before it closed, or I would arrive on a day the store was closed. So I made a special point of making it to town to hit the yarn store. I was thrilled when I saw one skein of Opal Harry Potter sock yarn -- of course, it is Lupin (I much prefer Ron or Tonks--but this was the only choice. Better than none!) I am not quite sure how these colors represent Lupin. So this is the sock I've started knitting, just to relax.

Countdown to hot water

The past few days (since Thursday, to be exact), we've not had hot water. I don't mind washing my hands or dealing with cold water, except for the shower bit. Oh my gosh. Cold water showers really are the pits! I have come up with a solution though--heat up a dish with water in the microwave and use that in the shower. Tomorrow we get our hot water (thank goodness. I am going to take a nice hot shower tomorrow).

But in knitting news:


Star Trek Socks


Then when I was finished with the Star Trek Socks, I started the Argh!gyle socks. I'm halfway through this sock's pair. Obviously it is too warm to wear these this summer, but at least it will be ready for fall!

Argh!gyle socks

Continuation of knitting and camera projects

Today, I took a little time to play with my camera and took pictures of my current project. This is yarn that I dyed myself with kool-aid and it is striping up very subtly with red and purple stripes.

And it is very soft, which is a plus, of course.

And I got myself a present! The thing is that over break, I downloaded tons of free books from amazon.com. And it seems like there were an awful lot of romance novels available for free, with titles like "Baby Bonanza" or "Once a Cowboy, Always a Cowboy", "Speed Dating", "Heated Rush", etc....I'm not ashamed. I read these books. (Some made me want to blush. Whooooo. I think "Heated Rush" was the one that was erm...quite...yes. I think you get the idea.) Featured in the kindle above is NOT a romance novel, but rather, a mystery called "REMIX".

I think I am learning how to use that camera! Now if spring would get here, already! That way, I can go take my camera out for some nice walks and photo opportunities! (and photo practice).

Sock and a cuff, and a new camera

First off, I have been working on these socks (for me) for a while now (over a month). These are Opal socks (Kaffe Fassett collection) and I do like the way they are striping up. If you are wondering why the pictures look blurry, it is because I bought a (new to me) camera from my friend Meredith (who was selling her Canon EOS Rebel XTi, so I am still learning my way around the camera. But I am excited. Even for spring (and yes, this is a girl who does not love spring), because I am hoping that I will get to take the camera on walks in and around the campus, and around here, and experiment.

I think I need to practice more on the focusing thing. ;)

I will be skipping knitting today, because I was up since 4 AM for work at the hospital, came home for a little bit (gave me enough time to shower, eat lunch, and watch 45 minutes of Supernatural. Also took some time then to look up the pros and cons of both the Nook and the Kindle. So far, I am liking the Kindle except that the Nook would let me borrow lots of books from the library. Sigh. Who knows what I'll end up doing.

I should just say...

we're not dog people. But we had a fun experience with a dog this morning. As I was going to go outside the house to get the car ready to go to work, I saw the cutest little white dog on our porch. Tail wagging, he approached me, and honestly, I had no idea what to do!

I got my mom and we saw that he had no tag on his collar, and he nosed his way inside the house, made a beeline for our Christmas tree (yes, we still have our Christmas tree up, and it is very pretty). He sniffed at a stuffed Polar Express Santa that we have under the tree and padded toward my mom's voice (mom was in the kitchen, wondering out loud, "Do dogs drink milk?" and looking in the fridge for millk to pour into a bowl).

Mom was afraid to leave him in the house all day while we went to work, so she had the brilliant (not really) idea of putting the dog in the garage. Of course, the poor dog got so completely spooked by the garage (plus the door hit him on the side--not hard) and started backing up down the hallway, and refused to go near my mom any more. He went straight for the front door, and mom opened the front door to put the bowl of milk down on the step. He, of course, went down the walk to the driveway. I went after him, and at that time, a woman was driving down the street with her window down, and shouted at me, "Have you seen a white dog?" So this was the owner, and the dog got to go home.

I will have to say this: My mom really liked that dog. He was cute. And we would just giggle about this all day because it was just a little too funny.

In a few short days...

During the SnB party, I was talking with Devona about one of my projects, which did not turn out as lovely as I wanted. This is the Elizabeth Bennet sweater that I knit out of the angora yarn that I bought before. My intention was that it would be fitted. The problem?

I hate doing gauge swatches.

Lesson learned: I have a sweater with sleeves that go over my hands, darts taht start at my waistline, and a sweater that is just huge and is most definetely not fitted.

Devona convinced me to post pictures. Here you go, Devona! Enjoy!

I did not bother putting buttons on this sweater. It would be pointless.
I also promised you a photo of the sweater that Andrea knit for the swap in which I participated. It is truly lovely and warm! it will also look fantastic with my purple coat!

The day after the swap/anniversary party, I unfortunately came down with a fever and a sore throat, and thought it was the flu.

It lasted through Friday afternoon, making me rearrange, cancel, and reschedule appointments (what a pain in the neck). During this time, I took the hint and let my body and mind rest by finishing a fiction book (The Eight by Katherine Neville--unfortunately I was so out of it with fever that I really don't know what happened at the end). I also watched a couple really bad TV shows (Royal Pains and Ghost Whisperer. Can someone explain to my why I find the lead actor who plays Hank in Royal Pains so attractive in movies such as In Her Shoes and Woman on Top but so unattractive in Royal Pains?) I also made some progress on a pair of fair isle mittens that I started the day before the anniversary party.

On Friday night, I watched Amelie while I knit these.

On Saturday morning, no more fever! So I went to work.

Then...mid-afternoon, I started feeling cold and a little shivery. Wanted to sit down, and was feeling a bit of sore throat. Went home, and still felt pretty cold. My boyfriend was waiting for me (we had plans for the evening), but I was feeling pretty miserable and sorry for myself. When he went to pick up food for me, I checked my temperature (even though boyfriend thought that I wasn't running one), and it was up to 100.1! I was so distraught over getting sick again in such a ridiculously short period of time.

Decided to monitor my fever and sore throat for the night, and see how I felt in the morning. In the morning, I still had a fever (hovering around 100 degrees) and my sore throat was even worse. So I decided to go to the urgent care in town, and boy, was that place busy with coughing people, feverish people, and a whole lot of sick adults and kids. Lots of coughing. Anyhow, I waited for 2.5 hours to get to see to the doctor. She basically told me that I had strep throat (just what I thought).

The end result is that I got some medications and a doctor's order that I not work on Monday. So basically, a sanctioned sick day, which did make me feel somewhat guilty.
(I didn't cancel class, but got someone else to cover for me). I also took everything as another sign to take a break. So no work on dissertation, no work on class prep, etc. I read another book. I watched Spirited Away. I knitted some more and made a lot of progress on this mitten.

Tomorrow I do not have to be at school or work. However, I will be catching up on all the work that did not get done for...well, days.

What I have made

It's been a long time since I've posted, and admittedly, a lot of things have been on my mind (mostly school and research related, so I took a little hiatus from this blog to try and keep sane. Plus, the thought of school was a bit depressing last fall, so I've tried to focus my energies in a more positive direction). So, in the time between the last time I posted and today, I've

• finished my Noro socks (I am wearing them at the moment and will take photos of them sometime soon)
• Finished a scarf for my SnB anniversary scarf swap
• Actually read a real book (meaning: A book that has absolutely nothing to do with research or school: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)
• Gotten my photo taken for a billboard (it is up right now!)
• Worked a lot
• Made some progress on recruiting subjects for one study
• Started the new semester anew, and hopefully the spring semester will be much better and much happier than the fall semester

So, for tonight's anniversary swap, here are some photos of things that I made:

This is my homemade baklava, which is so yummy and sweet.

I made Saroyan, a lovely scarf with a leaf edging out of a mohair blend yarn that I've had in my stash for a while. I've looked at the yarn for a long time, thinking it would be beautiful knitted up in this pattern. Chantal wound up with this scarf that I made.

In return, I wound up with the scarf that Andrea knit. Andrea, I love the scarf that you knit, with its bright, cheery colors! I will post pictures of it in the next few days!

DWTS, or sleep?

Right now, I've got my comforter tumbling away in the dryer, and at 7:57 PM, I am debating whether to go to bed early (skipping Dancing with the Stars) or to watch DWTS...This is going to be a week that will be trying...everyday I will be working somewhere, whether it is at the university, the store, or a hospital environment. Here's to making it through the week and staying as healthy as possible. It already was rough over the weekend, working early mornings at the hospital (starting by 7 AM) and having long days. Plus, on Saturday night, I am sure that I only got one hour of sleep.

I have also finished ONE sock last week, and started the ribbing for its pair. I caved and started with the pretty yarn that Andi gave me at the birthday swap, and just couldn't stop because I couldn't wait to see what the colors would look like. It is incredible!

This is the Monkey sock pattern. Instead of using purls, I substituted knit stitch. Also, since I hate holey socks, I did M1's instead of the yarnovers. I really like the way it looks, plain, but you see slight undulating details.

Getting ready for winter

I am actually working on my dissertation, as you can see. ;)

Yesterday, I went on a quest to find the perfect winter coat to replace my beloved purple coat (never fear--I will still hang on to the purple coat for a spare). I went to various department store websites, and narrowed my choices down to two coats--based upon my specifications, which are that the coat must be sufficiently unique enough, and not gray or not black, and knee-length, and warm enough for these midwestern winters.

I went to Nordstrom Rack first, figuring that maybe the prices would be lower--and I tried on pink coats, purple coats, blue coats, a couple gray coats, black coats, white coats, and there was one coat that just stood out in my mind. But since I still had wanted to see what the coats I bookmarked online looked like, I had to go to the mall to check them out, as well as any other department stores. There, the routine was the same, I tried on so many coats, but none of them made me feel great--or sufficiently cool. So back to Nordstrom Rack, where I picked up my coat, and I'm happy with my decision.

Even though the coat is gray AND black.

And since this is a knitting blog, I am working on some socks.

Birthdays in September

Last week, our SnB group had its annual birthday swap. The way this works is that we all are given one person to spoil completely, while someone else spoils us.

We don't have an idea who our spoiler is, not until the party, anyway. My spoiler was Andi (knitbrit) who is an artiste with needlework of all kind--sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet...you name it, she does an amazing job! So of course, I was thrilled when I opened my gift bag and saw this:

In the bag was this gorgeous blue bag that she made and embroidered herself, using a knit pattern that I adore as inspiration. (This pattern is this neat looking paisley sweater from a japanese knitting magazine that I cannot find, but I look at the pictures of the knitted garment on Ravelry). The bag is lined with a cool paisley print, too. In the bottom of the bag was a red and black laquered box, which held some chocolates, a small bag, sheep clips (so cute!) a pincushion, Noro Kureyon sock yarn, and gorgeous yarn that Andi spun for me. Seriously, I adore these presents!
My swapee was Devona (over at http://www.clevernesting.com/), and since she mentioned The Owl and the Pussycat a few times in her questionnaire, I knit her her very own Owlie Cowlie (which happens to be one of my favorite patterns). Devona was also a lot of fun to shop for, as she loves vintage and vintage-inspired things, so I got a copy of the Ohio Knitting Mills pattern book and some vintage fabrics, and some great alpaca yarn in colors that she likes. (I forgot to take pictures of those!)

Birthday post: repost

I couldn't figure out what happened to this blog post, which I wrote a week ago. I wrote it and posted it, but it was posted on the fortune cookie blog accidentally! So now, I am reposting this. The night before the SnB birthday party...and I am dying to show what I've made my swap recipient. See, since there are so many birthdays in a year, we all get one swapee that we spoil rotten at the party. So I've made somethign pretty cute and special (and right now, I'm not in a knitting mood...LOL!) so I will show what I made...after the party is over. Just in case.

School's been in session for one week and I'm already exhausted. The good thing is that I do not need to be up at the crack of dawn to teach tomorrow. Also I'm starting to get some research underway, so I'm happy about that. Finally.

When parents learn how to text

Last night, my family got new cell phones (I'm loving mine, by the way). Mom and dad have phones that have keyboards that slide out, and both asked me how to text.

Mom was not too shabby, with a simple "hi".

My dad, however, texted me this great message: "You have very very wet hands."

Recently, I particpated in a swap on Ravelry, and in our packages we had to include:

• yarn (at least 100 yards)
• something representing my field of study
• something representing my swapee's field of study
• something hand-made

and I got some very cool gifts from my swap partner, whose area of specialization is pure mathematics:

She designed a knitted bag with the international symbol for hearing loss, and on the other side she knitted a fibonacci sequence!

There's also some handmade stitch markers, a book called "The Kingdom of Infinite Number" and some very soft yarn (Taos). This was a fun swap, and when I saw the knitted purse, I was pretty excited about this, since I have to admit I was a little boggled about how to represent my field! (But I did find something pretty cute at this novelty store near me).

Updating

I finally finished one sock. Now I've got about 2 inches of ribbing on the second sock, but I'm now trying to finish the baby blanket I want to give to my friend.

I also want to see if I can make a gift for my birthday swap buddy (I have one month to do this). But we'll see if that is feasible.
And tonight, I made some pierogies and chicken with a creamy pan sauce. Topped it off with basil from my own mini herb garden!

What I've been up to

These days, I am trying to do a lot of work, and I also have been knitting. First up: I started the Tree of Life baby afghan for my friend's baby, which is due in August. (Of course, I may not be able to see her baby till September or October, so I think it will be a nice gift. I admit that I was initially nervous when I first looked through the pattern instructions, but it's actually pretty easy.
Around the same time, I started knitting myself some knee-high socks. So far, I've gotten half of one sock done, and with all the cables, it satisfies my need for something a little challenging, but it's simple enough that I can still do something like watch some TV at the same time. Since this is merino yarn, I'm going to try and find some nylon reinforcing thread or yarn for the heels and toes.

And finally--I finished my Pomatomus II socks with the yarn that I dyed at Martha's some time ago! Instead of using yarnovers, I did M1's, so the fabric is not as holey and it's a little warmer.