fo 1 & 2!

Yes, it is June and I am posting my first and second finished knitting projects of the year. It took me 6 months to finish a single thing. This:

It's small. Smaller than a baby blanket should be. But I just got to the point where I was done with diamonds and needed to give this to the mom-to-be. She's due in two weeks. So here is a case where it is the thought that counts.


However, I made up for the small blanket.  This is possibly the cutest thing I've ever knit, and all for baby Seb (he will be Sebastian Mateo).  Immediately following the blanket, in less than a day, I whipped this up:

It's called the umbilical hat. And it was a crowd pleaser - the yarn was right (soft and machine washable) and it was itty bitty. Maybe not so practical for a july baby...but that's beside the point. More to come, much more quickly now that I don't have a baby blanket hanging over me.

baby gimlet blanket pattern

This is a departure and not meant for regular readers.  Just an fyi.  

A few years ago now, I knit a blanket for a cousin's baby.  I loved that pattern - which I found on a knitting blog I frequented.  Since that time, that blog and its author have all but disappeared.  I tried to get permission to reprint the blanket pattern and failed.  However, the pattern was printed on her blog for free and I absolutely have no wish to take the credit for it.  So, this pattern courtesy of KnitAnnie.  The ravelry link is here:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-gimlet. 

All details in pattern are from KnitAnnie and do not apply to the blanket that I, personally, knit.  Note that the pattern was written by KnitAnnie, so any "I"'s from here on out are her.  Also, she's from Australia, so watch out for metric.

Materials

Any double knit (8 ply) or aran weight yarn would be fine for this blanket, as long as it's soft and fairly plain.  I used Cleckheaton Country 8 ply (5 and a bit skeins) in Colour 003 and 4mm needles.

Finished size: 64cm x 64cm before blocking, 75cm x 75 cm after.

Directions:

Moss Stitch: *K1, P1, repeat from * to end

Diamond pattern:

Row 1: *P1, K7, repeat from * to end

Row 2: *K1, P5, K1, p1, repeat from * to end

Row 3: K2, *(P1, K3), repeat from * to last two stitches, P1, K1

Row 4: P2, *(K1, P1, K1, P5), repeat from * to last 3 sts, K1, P2

Row 5: K4, *(P1, K7), repeat from * to end

Row 6: repeat row 4

Row 7: repeat row 3

Row 8: repeat row 2

Cast on 104 stitches and moss stitch for 4 rows.  This forms the bottom border of the blanket.  Moss stitch 4 stitches then follow diamond patter until 4 stitches remain, moss stitch 4 sts.

Continue as above for all rows until blanket is almost square.  Moss stitch 4 rows and cast off.  Weave in ends.

(katie here:  I ended up doing 17 repeats of the diamond pattern to get a square.  Plan for something similar)

Image of this blanket (complete with baby!):

FO Number eight!  Sealing the year up by completing my set.  Hat and mittens preceded it.

I made it extra long - the pattern called for 9 repeats. I did 15. I really enjoyed this knit. The cable could be a pain in the ass sometimes (to pull 10 on the cable needle was a bit much) but overall, I loved watching the braid happen. It's super thick yarn and can be looped multiples...and so it should be warm. I'm excited to break this out. Just need a day that isn't so damn cold that I'm wearing so many layers. My nice coat looks sausagy with too many layers.

Also, I'm running out of projects. So if you have something you want to own, of a hand-knit nature, shoot me a note. I even have a lot of yarn that has no purpose...

This picture is really tragically bad. But I'm happy and proud to present FO number seven for the year:

My sister's nuptial blanket. It is possibly the softest thing I've ever created (and machine washable/dry-able). And I did an i-cord border which was new. I tried to take a picture of that and failed. 


Congrats sort-of-newlyweds!

I made a hat that fits, I made a hat that fits! It's a miracle. And finished object number 6...

Busy with a blanket for quite some time. May work in another project before I finish that blanket, we'll see....

In order to postpone getting in bed until it is respectably dark outside, I present FO number 4:


Bed + book is kind of calling my name - I wore a skirt today and have not managed to feel warm all day (it was a lot windy and cool today). Plus, cat allergy attack. Way to go Mona.

Third finished object of the year! Yeah, yeah, I skipped one. But that project had a hasty finish: it had to catch a plane to Arizona with my Mom to be gifted to the recipient.

I present to you my long mittens (not sure if this negates their loveliness, but I guess these were inspired by a pair Bella wore in a Twilight movie, something that I could care less about; I just really liked the look of them). Originally I intended these to go with my new coat. After finishing the first, I decided I needed gray for my new coat. So these will go along with other miscellaneous coats. Casting on gray tomorrow hopefully. Eventually I will be making hats and scarves for red and gray as well.

Quick nerdy knitter post; I've got my first FO of 2010! FO = finished object for non-knitters. And I made it in January, huzzah! Meet the farmer's market bag that took almost a year and may never be used (though it hangs nicer than I expected...so maybe, just maybe):

Lookie here...

Happy picture Saturday everyone...

For your viewing pleasure, I took some pictures of large uprooted tree on my walk to work yesterday. It was sort of a gray day. Anyway, there's the roots...(and the crazy carpet looking grass...)


And in this picture you can see the crushed car. Notice the lucky, totally unharmed life-size VW sedan. Right behind it is the crushed car. Flat looking isn't it? It's a minivan. Yes, that flat, smaller than the sedan car used to be a minivan...(if you click on the pic to enlarge it, you'll also see that one sheet of window remained totally unbroken and is just unnaturally sticking there...)


And lastly, I got some mail love today. I purchased the yarn, but golly did it ever arrive fast. Yes, I said golly. This lovely mint-green (I know it looks blue in the pictures...a camera issue) yarn is going to become knee-socks at some point. Shout out to pure knits. If you all like yarn, go there...I always hit the sales and I always get a handwritten note thanking me for my order. Nice touch.

What is better...

What is better than...

• curly fries with cheese
• Harry Potter book in my hands in t-minus 8 hours (still seems so long)
• Spending a whole weekend with good friends
• wrapping presents (yes, I love it!)
• the blanket I'm knitting becoming so large that is warms my lap as I knit it (although it's still way too small...picture of it on my lap):

• A cat who is so lazy she lays down to drink out of the water bowl (note Mona's correct pose at the food bowl, sitting and eating. And then there's Boku....):

• Knowing that I finally, finally have an idea for my toast next Friday (but it still needs some thought)

Happy weekend all...

A boring girl...

Last week was full of excitement...a friend moved to the city, the 4th, a concert, the Taste, a graduation party...chock full of activity.

This week is more leisurely. Tonight I spent a bit of time on my website (finally) and may have a "splash" page prototype for some of you to look at for an opinion in the next few days (unfortunately this will be limited to those who know me as my last name is on the splash page, so please volunteer). I also spent a long, long time learning a new way to cast-on (knitting). I'm not sure what the big deal about this way is except that it's twistier and more complicated than my usual way (usual: Long-tail cast-on. New way: Old Norwegian cast-on). So it's been a crafty day all around....

Other than that, not much exciting this week...although I will be seeing HP this weekend with a long-lost friend....and it sort of feels like the wedding stuff (wedding is on 7.27.07) is starting now....a fitting this weekend, a bachelorette/shower weekend the next and then that next week is wedding week...

Possible sporadic posting ahead...

Keep me honest...

This may be a long post...

I hope you all had a good weekend...I've started this Monday with some happiness and the formulation of some plans. How about we start with the happiness?

• Fun mail day! Yay for having some friendly snail mail again (Al, I'm going to try!). I also received (I'd love to lead you on that someone sent it to me - but I bought it - it just went through the mail really, really slowly which led me to believe it might be lost. Blame it on Chicago because the postmark is about 13 days ago) this:The color is a little off because I had to take the picture without flash to avoid glare, but it's pretty fun, huh? I should have probably given it to my Mom and giggled (there's a whole Mom/owl joke in my family)...but I want it. So too bad Mom. It was super cheap too, without shipping it cost me a total of $5. I'm going to buy a frame and plunk that thing on my wall and, voila, art! The only thing I worry about is that the "red" is really, really deep and rusty. But, it'll still fit in around here. If you're curious about the artist - hit etsy here.
  
• I'm having Indian for dinner because it sounds so good.
• I actually finished a project today at work. One down, 1,000,000 to go.

Moving on to plans:

• I realized today that I have to have a website up and running by the end of this summer. While that website doesn't have to have a blog, it has to have an area for my past projects. It basically has to just be a resume boost at first - a site to send people to that I designed (emphasis on I) that contains a bunch of "coding" samples or links to any work I've done on live sites. It's just a must. So, starting next Monday, every night after work I'm going to spend some time on website work.
• I don't want to start spending all my time on a computer if this apartment is still a dump. So, during the week this week I'm going to amass all the necessary supplies and then Saturday is the day. On Saturday this place will be completely clean - tidied and scrubbed. There are no IFs or BUTs.
  
• I have the following knitting planned that I sort of want finished by tomorrow but will probably have to wait weeks for (since my time seems to be leaking away):
• Fingerless gloves for work - it is SO COLD there
• A pair of knitted socks for the same reason (since i prefer to walk to work in sandals)

Hope I didn't bore you too much - but I need to type up the plans sometimes just to keep me honest - if you all know my apartment will be spotless on Sunday, then maybe I have a better chance of actually sticking to that promise...

My tuesday...

So, I'm enjoying this whole 'blogging every day' thing. I enjoyed it last November and I enjoy it right now...

Instead of sorting through my pile of crap, I've entertained myself tonight in myriad ways. Yes, I'm technically still busy cleaning the apartment - if by cleaning you mean "walking around the crap and looking at it forlornly." The one big pile of crap has become numerous little piles of crap ("sorted") and then one smaller pile of crap. So I'm close to having the cleaning done (HA. Not true - I'm close to having the sorting done. Then I probably need hours to put stuff away, vacuum and Wet Jet).

Here's what I've done in the last 2 hours:

1. Ate.
2. Organized my bookshelf.
3. The above really only meant that I put all of my yarn into lovely little Target bought faux leather milkcrates (which are both already full) and shifted books around to fit said crates onto the bookshelf.
4. Took pictures of all of my "stash" yarns which I am now going to post on Ravelry - which I love, love, love.
5. Read some HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men (the latter for an experimental book club).
6. Filled out a rebate form.
7. Started watching Sin City - which I don't love. I don't even know that I like it....

Hope you all are having a fun Tuesday...

Almost there...

Some days I have many ideas about blog entries I can write. Most days I don't actually write them. Today I'm just going to write every blog entry idea that I had (or at least, all of those that I can remember).

Entry #1:
Tomorrow night I give a short presentation with my group member (the best group ever! But I knew her before - and we knew we would work together well. It went so smoothly that the class seemed like a piece of cake. Isn't it nice to hear about a good group work experience? Although my belief that group work has no place in graduate school still holds) and then that class is done. I wish I could share my final project (my last name is all over it, so I'm not keen to share) with you guys because I'm pretty damn proud of it (although the reason I'm proud is hopelessly nerdy. I don't love it because the site looks nice or works correctly - although it does both. I love it because of the way we implemented everything. Yeah. That's pretty nerdy).

Entry #2:
Over the summer I plan to build myself a website. I learned yesterday that I can use the server at work to build the site (although in the end, after the site is developed I'll move it from that server to a host, because again, developing it at work my last name will be all over it). I'm going to try my hand at design (which is my shortcoming) - so over the next few months you can expect some questions for you all about the look of certain things. This blog will move over there. And there will be a part of the site that is a portfolio of my work (so that in the future, potential employers can have one place to go to to try to hire me). I think this ultimately means that eventually my name, full name will be attached to all these blog entries. Which, isn't the worst thing in the world. But there are always worries when going public with your name on the internet. I'll have to think about that some more.

Entry#3:
I think I've changed a bit. I feel calmer as of late - and I truly think it has to do with the fact that I feel like I have a happy future in work that I like. It may seem like a simple thing, but I never had any solid plan for my career. Not in high school, not in college, not when I was working for a living....I also feel like maybe I'm getting a little more patient. Maybe.

Entry #4:
My hand-knitted blanket (I like to call it Saffy Cables - which is really only a shortening of the pattern name - Saffron Cables) is progressing slowly. Every other project has sort of been shafted to the side (although all that sock yarn on its way to my Mom's is going to be super hard to resist). And tonight I finished my first pattern repeat! Yay! Just 2 repeats to go (and some change, I'm thinking about knitting until my yarn runs out even if that means the pattern ends at a weird place). Saffy in numbers:

Current width of the blanket: 254 stitches.
Current width in inches: ~57 inches (it's hard to measure on circular needles)
Current length of the blanket: ~95 rows (i'm a bad row counter still)
Current length in inches: 16.5 inches
Total number of stitches knitted so far: ~23,617

Metadata monotony...

I'm bored out of my mind. I have 1 and a half assignments left...and that half an assignment is bumming me out (the other one should go pretty quickly - it's really a shared assignment with my group member). Basically I'm writing a paper explaining metadata/folksonomies to common people (you know, all of you). I hate writing papers (which I have probably stated before). But if you want to know what metadata/a folksonomy is...let me know. I'll let you read my crap paper when it's done.

To break up the monotony I accidentally bought a whole lot of yarn online (it was on clearance!). I'm hoping to make a million pairs of socks (watch out - you too, will be getting socks for Christmas...).

I haven't really been allowing myself to do anything fun the last few days (besides that little bit of online shopping)...and it has worked out. But I'm so tired of school...

Activity list...

Today I:

• Got my hair cut (by maybe 1/2 an inch).
• Made an appointment to lop my ponytail OFF.
  
• Thought about putting progress bars on this blog for my knitting projects. Any thoughts readers? Would anyone look at them but me?
• Thought about putting a countdown to the "ponytail lop-off" on this blog (DOING IT).
  
• Bought wood for the first time (for leveraging up the A/C unit that I'm hoping to install successfully in my window).
• Spent way too much money on eco-friendly litter. If it works like it's supposed to, then I won't regret the purchase because it's supposed to last forever. If it doesn't, then I'm out $33 (and I had a $5 coupon).
• Got my eyebrows waxed.
• Created a custom control for my website project (it's a survey site - and it looks pretty cool if you ask me).
• Almost finished assignment 1 of 2 for one of my classes. One more paragraph of BS and I'm done.
• Bought some yarn I didn't need (sale at my knitting store! It's time to have a stash!).
• Suffered through a headache ALL. DAY.

Maybe I'll watch a movie tonight while I do my homework...wouldn't that be exciting?

How to NOT do homework....

While I should be working on a fairly intense piece of code, I've been playing with a new, awesome knitting site called ravelry (it's basically a way to keep track of all your finished objects, find patterns, meet people, do knit-alongs, find events etc). Just putting in all of my projects has been intense (and I'm not done yet). I sadly only have pictures of a few of my finished objects....but that can be fixed(Katy - picture of the orange scarf? Could you? Sister- we'll have to talk, because I'm hoping that S has an OK picture of Max IN his blanket, and then of course there are the wristwarmers).

Eventually I'm sure there will be a widget on this site linking to Ravelry. But, it's still in beta, so that could be a while...

As for school - I think I did OK on that midterm (after hearing the correct answers in class; no grade yet). I'm fairly positive I didn't "ace" it, but I probably pulled off a B. I've stopped going to two of my classes almost altogether and really, really need to suck it up and go to my Monday class next week.

Other than that...just trying to get stuff done before the trip/wedding over memorial day weekend. I may be bringing my laptop, sitting in a hotel remoting in to my work computer to do homework...Yuck.

Dashes of nothingness...

Every year around midterm and final time, I set records for minesweeper. Because I play it so much as a procrastination method that I'm bound to set a record. I just set an amazing expert record of 91 seconds. While using a touchpad on a laptop. Beat that.

Have you ever sort of hated someone but liked them at the same time? Or been unable to figure out if you're attracted to someone? And then that person is the same person? This is why I don't date. Because I might be attracted to someone I hate. Except not really, when I think about it, I'm not attracted. Nor do I hate him. Most of the time. Apparently I'm confused.

I've been knitting a lot too (Knitting my blanket: I'm at row 54 of a 76 row repeat and each row is 254 stitches - which I have to do 3 times total....so yeah, still nowhere near being done). Knitting and trying to structure my thoughts. Because this midterm sucks..and it involves actual strategizing and coming up with bullshit but pretending that bullshit is intelligently crafted. I really am expecting a horrible grade on this exam. I hate this kind of shit. I prefer programming; tangible creation of goods. Burn out city: population, me. Honestly, I already checked what I could get in the class, gradewise, and still have it count towards my degree (C-). This one, awful class is going to ruin any chance I have of graduating "with distinction." Even with burn-out, my other two classes are solid A's. Boo.

Now I should go back to the midterm. I'm so close to being finished that I keep putting it off (I'll finish the last two sentences in the next commercial break. I have 24+ hours still, no rush, I'll take a break, etc).

Cats, buttons, yarn...oh my!

This post may bore the cool kids out there as it will focus on the best and brightest parts of my nerdery. Today, one of my coworkers said something along the lines of "Oh, you really ARE a nerd." At which point I said...um, doesn't my job and pursuing a masters in computer wizardry confirm that? And he made an excellent point that some join the computer field because they've heard about the buckets of gold that fall from the sky into the pockets of anyone who works with computers. I am not one of them, I am one of the true nerds.

Cats...(two things):

• I never mentioned it, but while I was sick last week, I was laying on the couch for hours at a time. At one point while I was bundled under a blanket and completely still, Boku jumped on the couch with me. And then she laid in my lap. Are you shocked? Yes, well, the truth is, I don't think she knew she was in my lap/on my legs. She lasted about 10 minutes before her nervous jitters took over and she jumped down. But, I'm telling you...we're closer to a major break-through than ever before.
• Today, Mona did the weirdest, weirdest thing. No really, no exaggeration. And suddenly, I am convinced she is intelligent (this is the cat that licks the wall and fell in the toilet more than once). She loves pipe cleaners. Today, she's sitting on the floor, facing me, with the very end of the pipe cleaner in her mouth. Hitting the other end repeatedly with her paw. For minutes. A long, long time. The pipe cleaner was rotating around in her mouth like a pinwheel. Once the pipe cleaner had been abandoned (to stalk the window/some animal) I noticed that the very end of that pipe cleaner is pretty bare - almost all metal. And I can't help but think that she was using it to itch/feel the movement in her mouth. Almost like the damn cat was using a tool. I was astounded. Shocked. Amazed. So here's a little pic showing her tool use...because she did it for so long that I could find my camera, figure out what the best setting would be (motion setting) and take pictures.

Buttons - if you haven't been, you should go see them here! If you see any, you should see the one from today, which is my favorite.

Yarn...I've managed to start a bunch of projects and finish some. I made a lovely baby blanket for my cousin and his soon-to-be-here baby. I don't have a picture because...I suck at that. I also finished some fingerless mittens/gloves for my sister. At some point a picture should be coming out of that apartment to appear on this blog. I started a blanket (and am on row 16 or 17 of the actual pattern after knitting quite a large border), some socks (which I am close to finishing one) and some fingerless gloves that are becoming a gauging nightmare (which is why I haven't done much on them).

Hope you all have a nice weekend - I may blog again since I need to do a lot of work this weekend and blogging is a procrastination device (I'm actually listening/sort of watching a class right now. I actually take in a LOT when I knit and listen. I wonder how bad it would be to knit at class.....)

Open Sesame...

One of my hopes for the New Year (besides everyone living through it) was that I could stop internalizing everything...and just get out of my head. The past two weeks I have failed miserably and I am currently awash in negativity. And so I'm going to open my valve and let my negative experiences and feelings spew all over this blog. [on a side note, it's totally weird but I can't help but picture a valve (triangular, on the side of my shoulder/arm) opening. Is that weird? If you had a valve where would it be and what would it look like?]...

1. I had no idea I was going to take the death of Allie as hard as I have. I felt cryish all day yesterday (maybe because everything else added together made it harder?). Either way, it's sad.
   
2. Stupid radiator. I come home last night to a freshly "sealed" wall. All this meant to me was anger. Why? Because, the assholes that "maintenance" my apartment didn't cover my furniture with plastic sheeting (most likely because I wasn't around to make them be careful). I came home to a layer of crappy white dust all over everything and toxic fumes. It makes me angry just thinking about it. It's bad enough that they make a mess of my floors with their dirty boots (this is my HOME, take your shoes off) but then they had me worrying about ruined furniture? The idea of dealing with landlords and maintenance men for the next 5-10 years makes me feel utterly despondent.
   
3. One of my professors is horrible. Not mean, just a horrible, horrible teacher. It is week 8 (of 11 weeks) and I just turned in my midterm (he gave it to us 3 weeks late). I have yet to see a grade for any of my assignments. I have yet to learn a single thing (for the first...4 weeks he was literally making it up as he went along. We did nothing but stupid assignments where we searched the internet during class time. And it was 4 weeks of one topic that had nothing whatsoever to do with the subject of the class). At the 5th week I think he panicked, and at that point he stole (or borrowed if you feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt. Which I don't.) powerpoint presentations from another professor. Fine, right? At least he'd have a clear outline. No, not true. He didn't LOOK at his slides before class and any time anyone had a question he looked like he was about to shit his pants. I have no respect for this man. None. And yet I have to try to get something out of this class (the only class I'll take about Internet Security, which is kind of important). Thinking about paying $2300 for his BS just makes me boil. Boil.
4. My group, for a huge website development project, turned out to be 50% worthless. That makes a solid 3 of us (self-included) out of 6 able to actually code. The sheer amount of work is enough to stress anyone out. Add to that the work taken to clean up the work of the only other person in the group who's trying and it seems like there is no way a working site will be ready a week and a half from now. Thinking about it makes me ill. And angry (how, HOW did these people get into the class???!!!?)
5. This quarter, for the first time...since regular college, I have two in-class exams that are not open note. Not of the multiple choice variety (because I am 100% OK with those) but of the short-essay variety. And I dread them.
6. My cat (MONA) keeps peeing outside the box. Cat pee...it smells really, really bad. The strongest smelling pee in the world. So now I'm coming up with all kinds of solutions to this problem...the first of which was to put the top on the litter box. But Mona is so tall and Boku is so fat that they both look all squished up when they get in there. I'm just waiting for the day where they start peeing out the hole in the front. I basically need to go on a search for a gigantor litter box...
   

Valve closed. I don't really feel any better. At all. If anything I just feel angrier at my "Professor" and more stressed about tests and websites. I'll be very glad when this quarter is over.

Maybe I'll open the good stuff valve really quickly:

1. I finished a whole lot of knitting projects in the past few weeks. I've tried taking pictures....but I suck, suck, suck at it. Plus, one of them is for someone who doesn't know they are getting it (don't get too excited readers, I think that the recipient doesn't read this blog. But I have to be careful). Another finished project is for a reader and I might as well not show her a picture before she gets it. And the most recent was a little hat. That looks pretty kick ass but its a little tight...and my earlobes are showing (not unusual because my earlobes are unusually large).
2. Spring break is soon (negative valve creeps open with a hissed Not soon enough).
3. My job is looking like it might be perfect. Right now its a lot of build up (and sort of boring build up at that) but I wrote my first update for a school website the other day and watched it go into production with some lame excitement.
4. I skipped class last night (because of #3 combined with #1 on the negative list above) and made myself tacos. First time I've had a real, made by me meal in...months.

Maybe steer clear of me for a few weeks?