It has sleeve(hole)s!

Moving along nicely on the Tank Girl tank, my new Knitting Olympics entry. I'll at least finish the back.

And I had to laugh at the math required to adapt the pattern to the new gauge.

[x-posted to Team Hooker]

My LAPtop

I hooked up a wireless router last night, and now I'm truly typing with my computer on my lap. Revolutionary. It's fabulous to be able to do stuff online during commercials. I'm also wrapped in a scarf, hat, and blanket in my living room since the heat in my building is off at the moment, but all in all, I'm counting it a great night.

Ribbit (and RIP)

Well, I let the wee-sized-off-gauge W go last night. Frogging it was less painful and more therapeutic than I'd thought it would be. AND, I realized that the "Tank Girl" tank in Stitch 'n' Bitch looks like it will work perfectly for the yarn. It looks like the perfect pattern to get me on the knitting horse again. I'll resurrect the W some day (soon) with new yarn and renewed confidence.

New hope

In the frustration of last night's gauge incident, I had considered giving up knitting for good in favor of crochet. But I found redemption in the mailbox, in the form of a long-overdue copy of Interweave Knits. I love the feeling I get every time I look at a new knitting book or magazine—it rings like a call to create, and that's the kind of call to arms to which my spirit responds.

New possibilities abound!

Pace

I'm just under 20% done. This is easy to figure because each side is knitted in 5 wedges, and I'm nearly done with wedge 2.

But, actually, I just measured it, now that it's taking form enough to be recognizable, and it looks like I must be way off gauge. I was way ON gauge in the stockinette stitch part. And the gauge was measured over St stitch. NOW it's clear that I should have measured more often, but I'm usually pretty consistent.

Huh. Hmm. It's 16" long and it should be 20" long. Hmph. I might be a Knitting Olympics dropout... :(

Wow, I don't know if I can emotionally survive frogging this whole thing. Encourage me please. Tell me the joy's in the process, or something. :)

[x-posted to Team Hooker]

Free, fabulous music

Happy Valentine's Day, indeed! My friend Mindy showed me Pandora, part of something called the Music Genome Project. You enter the name of an artist you like, and they give you music suggestions. Then you rate the suggestions, and they play more suggestions. It plays like a radio station stream—and just keeps playing! It links to iTunes if you want to purchase the song. My new favorite thing!

Why, oh, why?!?

... do people find it touching to send holiday well wishes out over a mass text message? Nothing says, "I love you," like the personal touch of a 100-character SMS on my mobile.

Saturday

It's snowing here, and I had one of those lovely evenings where I listened to NPR, knitted, read, and am going to bed early. There's something very restful about a night with no television and minimal noise in general, but this seems to be augmented by the snow.

My Knitting Olympics project progresses (and more on the process here), though I didn't pursue it tonight with the Athenian vigor or grit. Tonight's pursuit was peace, and as I sought, so I found.

It's a boy!

Well, the onesie is, at least. I have three pregnant friends, and sex determination of the wee ones is in progress. But I've been wanting to make this "Little Boy Blue" onesie from the Jane Davis book, Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies, and it seemed weird to make it in a color other than blue.

I'm swatching to see if (really how) I want to add some color and whether I want to stick with their stitch pattern ([sc, ch1] in ch1 spaces across) or just go with a basic single crochet, the simplicity of which I like.

Feedback?



This is a folded version of the first swatch to show the smaller yellow & teal stripes.

Good study habits

Ah, the old days. I think they made us take a class on that at my undergrad. I have a vague memory of being in a classroom in a building in which none of my other classes took place and learning how to take notes.

I'm at the library, wrapping up an evening of studying after a day of working. Life experience seems to be the best teacher of good study habits. There's something about being in the library late at night that reminds me of being 18, but I'm vastly more capable of learning now than I was then. There were no classes in out-of-the-way buildings, no special seminars on how to manage time. I learned it along the way, as we all do. I found those types of classes of relatively little value, but I wonder how strong was their influence in making me attentive to pick up the good habits along the way?

A dose of creative writing/musing to counteract a night of reading psychology texts. As school picks up, nurturing the creative is increasingly important to me. It's exciting to see expansion & integration rather than an either-or choice in my life.

Abundance

New York has a nasty little tendency to create a longing for "more." Desiring increase and improvement is not necessarily unhealthy. But the city whispers seductively to her people, "You don't have enough." And her people leap to the conclusion, "You're not enough." There was a Carrie Bradshaw line on Sex and the City that struck me as particularly succinct: New Yorkers are always looking for a better apartment, job, and boyfriend.

But you know what? Things aren't that bad, folks. I actually love my apartment, and I'm living roommate-free at not-quite-27. I have a great job that allows me to go to grad school for (almost) free. No boyfriend at the moment, but he'll come along soon enough, and the dozens of amazing women in my life are bringing me no shortage of joy in the meantime.

I'm so grateful for the blessings I have, and tonight I decided to shift my focus to the abundant provision I have and away from the "stuff" New York is trying to convince me I need. I'm going to stop wanting and start thanking. Simplicity makes me smile; a little celebration:

Happy Thing I Have #1



A Netflix subscription. Free entertainment.

Happy Thing I Have #2



Several barely-touched knitting publications, full of potential projects. (This was the start of the revelation, as I found myself thinking of buying a new knitting book to choose a project for the Knitting Olympics.

Happy Thing I Have #3



Frozen shredded hash browns, a veggie burger, and a glass of wine at the end of the bottle = free dinner, one of my favorite simple joys.

These are the most superficial of reasons that life is good, certainly. But I'm choosing to celebrate all the evidence of the fact I have more than enough.

The Warm-up

Every good athlete needs a warm-up. In preparation for the aforementioned Knitting Olympics, which I decided to join today in a moment of weakness/excitement, I'm hoping to finish this shawl for a friend. Finishing may be unrealistic, but some soothing progress toward using up my 1440-yd ball of yarn would please me.



I'm still deciding on my Knitting Olympics project, and will track my decision-making process at the Team Hooker blog, but I'm thinking of a baby sweater... this shawl is for an expectant mom, so the two could partner together as a gift in a couple months.

The Sweater

What else is there to say? It was my first. I committed to making it over Christmas, and I guess I did the whole thing in less than two weeks, which would almost qualify it for the Knitting Olympics, (if you consider the holidays a world-class sport). It's done in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, so the whole thing cost me less than $30. It's super cozy, a little too big, but warm enough to fend off any chilly day. I wore it to go see Munich, and I felt very cozy. I found the pattern, "Reconfigured Raglan," in Interweave's subscriber archives.



And I worked through setting the timer on my digital camera to get this one. I carefully cropped it, as I have a "no showing of my face on the Internet" policy. I should have a "no showing of my knees in shorts in February" policy, too, but then you'd miss the sleeves. (This one's for you, Mom & Dad!) :)