New Year's Eve

Last year I had a resolution that I didn't keep, and I'm a little bummed on that count - new handspun socks would be cool, although last year's are kind of amazing and I'm glad to have them still. I do have more handspun sock yarn, so next year, that'll happen.

On the other hand, I did do some awesome stuff this year. Favorite projects include the fantastic mittens I just finished, and several pretty great pairs of socks. I finished the green sweater that's now a wardrobe staple for me, and managed to win the Knitting Olympics.

One thing I realized this year is that the fun part of all this fiber stuff for me is in learning to do new things. I remember sitting in Abby Franquemont's spinning class in September and feeling the kind of mental exercise I used to get in Doug Leonard's coding theory classes. I definitely have decided to take more classes in the coming year, including another trip to Knitting Camp, if possible. I'm considering another run at Sock Summit, but we'll see. I also learned to weave, which has been fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing where that takes me.

Best wishes to all in 2011, friends. Thanks for reading.

Scarf in a Day

I got a request last Thanksgiving for a red scarf. It wasn't gonna happen for Christmas last year, but I kept it in mind for this year.

Enough so that I had three different scarves' worth of red yarn floating around the stash by the time the fall semester started. I tried two or three different patterns, but nothing was working. I was totally going to punt it. But when I woke up on the morning of our Christmas trip, I packed the bulkiest of the red scarf yarns and size 13 needles. I cast on as we were leaving Indianapolis and had 2/3 of it done by the time I took over driving. The last third was accomplished in the evening and the next morning, making this an awesome quick project.

Scarf-in-a-Day:

CO 18 stitches.
Rows 1-11: (K1,P1) across.
Row 12: Slip 6 stitches to a cable needle and hold in front. (K1,P1) 3 times. (K1,P1) 3 times from the cable needle, then (K1,P1) to the end.
Rows 13-23: (K1,P1) across.
Row 24: (K1,P1) 3 times. Slip 6 stitches to a cable needle and hold in back. (K1,P1) 3 times, then (K1,P1) 3 times from the cable needle.

I did this with two skeins of Lion Brand Alpine Wool, and ended up with a scarf probably 5 inches across and a touch less than 5 feet long.



I'm kind of wanting to make another now. Fun!

LOOK WHAT I DID!!!!!

I made mittens.


BEEEAUTIFUL mittens with seahorses and braids and happy star/rose motifs.


The fabulous pattern is from Torirot Design and is free on ravelry. I made some modifications - mostly in the cuff, and a bit in the thumbs, because I liked the longer pattern, but felt they needed to be pointy. In other news, I have opinions on mitten thumbs (who knew?).


I desperately love this feeling of awe and accomplishment that knitting can give me.


And I don't even mind that it's snowing now.

Something slow, but awesome

Julie's blog is one of the first ones I heard about once I started attending my knit night. She's consistently smart and funny, and a really talented knitter. Her Watery Llama Scarf was my first clue that there was such a thing as a reversible cable. So when I found some seriously awesome blue yarn that could grow up into a perfect scarf for my father-in-law, her pattern came to mind.

It's not finished yet, but it's pretty fantastic. I modified by making it narrower, and waiting a little longer to start the cabling.



Yummy!

While I'm Showing Things Off

I bought a sewing machine a few years ago. I think I had great plans for it at the time - maybe involving lining knit bags and steeking. Mostly it's been used for hemming pants and mending clothes, nothing really fun. But I have had this drawstring bag tutorial series bookmarked for a while. This Sunday I finally Did Something With It, and here's the result:



Bought the fabric at Hobby Lobby last year, the cord was leftover from my green grocery bag. It's a good start at this whole sewing thing, I think.

An accounting of the past week or so

Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we had a replacement knit night. I was having a weird day, and Mandie had brought yarn. The orange sweater and I weren't getting along, and I wound up with this fantastic skein of bright green Yarn That Shall Not Be Named.

I wound the yarn that night. I cast on Thanksgiving day. Last night I had new socks.



This may be a speed record for me. They're good. They're very good.

'Tis the season

We welcomed our first snow of the season this morning in Indiana. I say "welcomed," although I will admit my greeting was more along the lines of grousing.

The cool thing, of course, is that it's a really good time to be one of the wool people. I broke out the houndstooth scarf from this summer with my down coat, and after I finish my socks-of-the-moment, I have a mostly-finished pair of mittens to polish off.

I'm thinking about knee socks and legwarmers, hats and sweaters. Of course, it's also the last few weeks of the semester, so knitting is taking a backseat to work. Oh well.

Need a project roundup soon. Maybe this weekend.

Not knitting

I bought a little loom in October. It's a Cricket, and it's all kinds of of adorable. First thing on and off it is this scarf:



Amy King at Spunky Eclectic has beautiful checkered scarf kits, and this one was called Cheeseburger. I love how the kettle-dyed effect of the yarn shows up in the checkers. I still have enough yarn for a matching hat, too! I'm looking forward to experimenting with weaving more. It's not as portable as knitting, but it's fun!

I finished the fingerless mittens from last time.

Appropriately matching-but-for-different-hands, and they're already living with their new owner, who likes them a lot.

Now back to the orange sweater. I have lots of tv on TiVo and dvd, and a few days off before Friday. It could totally still happen by the Iron Bowl.

Seriously?

I've been having a lot of Stupid Knitting Errors lately. The Orange Sweater has been ripped out enough that I'm kind of amazed the yarn is still holding up. There was the Hideous Sleeve Incident, and the Unfortunately Giant Original Body. Never mind the usual stuff that happens with knit-purl patterns (oh no, I reverted to k2p2 instead of k4p2!) Anyway, after knitting nothing but the Orange Sweater for a couple weeks, I self-diagnosed with a pretty severe case of project fatigue, and went about looking for something else.

I started a pair of fingerless mittens for a friend a month or so ago. I knit the first one no problem. She tried it on and pronounced it Good. I went and cast on the second right away, but they soon languished after I finished the ribbing. I retrieved them from the bottom of my WIP basket this week. She asked for them back in the spring, and I said it'd probably be getting cool before I got to them. I didn't plan on making her wait this long though. Thursday night I started the thumb gusset on mitten number 2.

It was Saturday - two days and most of a mitten later - that I realized that I was knitting a second right-hand mitten.



Back to the drawing board. Or the start of the thumb gusset. Whichever. Either way, finishing these is my knitting goal for the weekend.

It's a Good Thing

I have a friend who dyes yarn. She's also an amazing knitter and talented designer and a generally fun and interesting person.

But this week my favorite thing about her is that she tends to bring a big pile of yarn to knit night. And I had a long tough week and when she dumped out the pile to show off her week's work (and our Club choices for next month), there was a skein that made Thursday better.



Isn't she pretty? I had to bring her home and love her and pet her and call her George. Thanks Mandie!

Setbacks

Well, here's a thing. I have this orange sweater, and after a week of furious knitting, (see last orange sweater post) I managed to get a second second sleeve that matched the first. I cast on the body and spent a week knitting little ribbed boxes. And then I tried it on.

 

That's the ease around the hem. Yeah, that's more than I wanted. Ripped some more. Current iteration of the body fits better. Now I just have to keep going.

200 Miles

I walked my 200th mile on Sunday. It was the tail bit of a kind of epic week, I walked 17.8 miles over seven days.

It's starting to get really chilly. Wednesday morning last week it was 37. I did fine with a couple layers of sleeve and fingerless gloves. It's better when I do some light stretching to start - which I should have been doing all along, but better late than never, right? (Have I mentioned I grew up in Alabama? I do ok till about 45, but below that it's really too cold.)

I still don't have a full-winter plan, although the weather people are forecasting snow flurries later this week. I'm paying way more attention to the weather people than I used to, as well.

I meant this post to be a little more than "yay, 40% in! Dude, it's getting cold!" but that's all I've got in me tonight. 300 miles and about 200 days to go.

Where's a mathematician when you need one?

Everybody look really close at this picture:


This photo was taken a month and a half ago. Do you see what it took me till last night to figure out?

That sleeve on the DPNs has a full repeat more stitches than the longer blocked one. 6 stitches more. THAT'S AN INCH or more. Without blocking, they look the same size. They're not. One has 54 stitches to start, the second has 60.

This is a major knitting error of the "Janet can't count" variety. I was really hoping to have this sweater knit by the Iron Bowl. We may be moving that goal back to whatever actual bowl game Auburn winds up playing.

Long-term projects

Last November I made a fiber purchase:


I started this yarn in July, with great Tour de Fleece aspirations:


This week it's finally done.


From one pound of fiber, around 1500 yards of 2-ply light fingering weight.

Of course, now I need to knit it. Planning on a Featherweight Cardigan.

Minor update

I've been walking, but not enough. Sinus/ear infection in September sidelined me for a couple weeks, but I'm back at it, baby. If I push it, I can make 200 miles by the end of the month.

Mandie blogged today, with pictures from Knitting Camp (remember that?). There are as many pictures of me as there are of Meg and Amy, which is flattering and a little weird. However, now I must have to have both of those sweaters. With waist shaping on both. For serious.

There's been other fibery stuff happening. Took a day of classes with the amazing Abby Franquemont, which has me spinning like a fiend again. Went to Corydon for the fall fiber festival this past weekend, and got my first taste of cotton spinning. Oh, and yesterday a Cricket came to my house. I'm hoping to get weaving by this weekend.

I'm going to go and ply some more yarn - that's been the story of the past couple of weeks - my Tour de Fleece goals are finally getting spun! And knit some on that pink sock I haven't touched lately.

Yesterday at Trader Joe's

I pulled out my old knitted grocery bag for my few treats and frozen fancies. The cashier says "Oh, cool, did you make this?" and I respond in the affirmative.

"I bet you don't have kids." Um, no, but people I know do this and more and have multiple kids...

"Did you make your mitts too?" Yep, thanks. "Have a good day." You too.

I got out the door and realized that he hadn't mentioned the handknit sweater I was wearing. I'm going to take that as a compliment.

Something amazing and something else.

So a couple Christmases ago, I coveted an awesome pair of socks knit by the Yarn Harlot. I decided to copy them, as they're essentially a stitch pattern shoved into a sock recipe, and I can totally do that. I just didn't get around to it. I had great yarn for it, though. Fantastic yarn - some of my first from Blue Moon. Those socks were totally Next for a year or more.

So when I decided to join in the personal sock club movement back in March, all my Next socks went in. There's still some awesome yarn in my cabinet for it. Like, more than there should be if I were on the sock-a-month schedule. Whoops.

These were the first socks I pulled from the cabinet. I love them. I finished them a week or so ago.



I love them. I'm almost afraid to wear them.

The second pair of socks from my personal club are far less precious. I stuck them in because I wanted a smattering of plain socks in the cabinet, and my work socks always wear through pretty quick. I kind of hated the yarn, despite the nice stripeyness. I finished them at a math conference this weekend and wore them the next day.



So there you are. A couple finished pairs of socks. And thus ends my Black Sock Phase. I'm definitely taking some time before the next pair of black socks. I started two pairs of socks this weekend - blue with sparkles and pink. Better.

Oh, sweet!

What I just said when I realized that my average pace so far is higher than my pace needs to be to finish on time.

Average pace so far: 1.40 miles/day (113.7 miles/81 days)
Average pace needed to finish: 1.37 miles/day (386.3 miles/282 days)

So it's higher, but not by much. A minor travel cold knocked out the first few days after returning from LA, and work has interceded this week. I'm hoping to pack in a few consecutive long walks this weekend. Things are cooling off, thankfully, which is good for the walking, but are a reminder that Winter Is Coming and I should find Something To Do in order to continue walking during the cooler months. My weird class schedule should actually help - I have two free mornings for when it's hot like now, and two free afternoons for when it cools off, so I can walk during the afternoons when it's starting to get really cool.

I'm considering starting some Winter Walking accessories soon, but really I have five million pairs of fingerless mittens and just finished a really warm hat, so as long as I'm ok looking mismatched, I'll probably be fine. Meanwhile I'm knitting for babies. I finished the knitting of a Baby Surprise Jacket, and started a square shawl/blanket from Knitter's Almanac. The baby the blanket is for is four weeks old this week, and I hope to meet him in October. The Surprise Jacket's recipient isn't here yet, so I don't feel too bad putting off its seams and all.

And it's knit night, which is always good for productivity. Yay!

Vacation

Clockwise from top left: Getty Center gardens - gorgeous!!! Creepy Circus Liquor Neon Clown was one of our landmarks between our hotel and Kid Brother's place. Dinner on Friday night was across from Warner Bros studios - Justin rode a bike across the lot to meet us on his lunch break. Birds of Paradise were the local shrubbery - we passed lovely ones outside an Olive Garden on a morning walk. Kermit and Piggy passed by in a Disneyland parade - we had just gotten off the teacups (Mom has the best photos from the teacups!). The roller coaster coasted under us on the Ferris Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier. And lastly, the Pacific - Santa Monica Bay, really.

What fun we had! I walked a lot - my pedometer gave up the ghost and fell apart the last night.

Really, all that was fun, but the reason I went was this:


Happy fun times with Mom and Justin. Yay!

80 miles in

I'm trying to wrap up July in a way that doesn't make me feel disappointed in myself. I had hoped to walk 50 miles this month. I didn't quite make it last month, and it won't happen this month either.

But maybe my expectation wasn't exactly reasonable. I went out of town for two of the four weekends in the month. Most Friday-Monday stretches in June, I walked 7-10 miles over that time. The Fourth Weekend I got less than a mile in, and the week after that was obliterated with work recovery from the trip. At Camp I walked more than the first trip, but still not as much as I might have at home. This week has had meetings keeping me from walking. The second half of the summer term has been rough. But it's almost over.

I'm trying to decide on a New Goal for August. I do want to get 50 miles in a month, and August may be the month, but maybe I should try and eliminate the sporadic non-walking I did in July. I think I'm going to try and walk a measurable and recordable distance (at least a tenth of a mile, preferably half a mile or more) 6 days a week.

Pictures of Knitting

Look, it's a hat!


Brioche-stitch watchcap, or as EZ called it, "Prime Rib". Knit from handspun Falkland in the Spunky Club's "Zombies" colorway. What a pleasure this was! I still find the structure of the fabric mesmerizing. See, look:



Mmm. Yummy.

I'm past the sticking point on the first sleeve of my next sweater: it's orange and yummy. I'm not getting gauge, so I'm redoing the math to make it work - the yarn needs the tighter gauge, and I love the fit of my sleeve so far. Pullover in mmmalabrigo:



Orange. Very Orange. I'm hoping to have this finished for the start of football season (War Eagle!). We'll see. Stockinette is very good right now - but that's only 6 weeks off. Not sure I'm that fast - though I want to be. I can definitely get it done by the Iron Bowl, though, right? I need to crank through this, I've got at least 3 more sweaters I want to make rightnow due to Camp.

Need to talk about walking. Next time.

Away and back

I went to Knitting Camp. I got home a little more than 24 hours ago, and my headspace is still there. I've been daydreaming of new sweaters all day. There are at least four competing for precedence, including the current orange pullover that I've decided to chuck the given instructions on and knit with a circular set-in sleeve and a steeked v-neck.

Meanwhile I'm knitting a handspun brioche stitch hat that I know I've knit enough to have three hats (I've frogged it a lot), but it's a fascinating knit and I don't actually want it to end until I have this odd bit of fabric construction pegged. Or till I've used up all of the wonderful yarn (it's ~100 yds of 3-ply falkland that I spun in October and it somehow never got blogged).

I know last year with Sock Summit not everything I learned was evident right away. I am entirely certain it will be the same way with Camp. Meanwhile I'm tracking down my fellow campers' ravelry pages and blogs because I desperately do not want to forget the amazing weekend I had. I want to return next year - actually, I want to return next weekend.

Anyway, if I'm going to have a better day at work tomorrow I need to get on to bed. I know there is more to say, and I will say it. And I'll have a hat to show by the weekend - unless it gets frogged some more.

Long haul

Gentle readers, a pair of socks.



These socks were first seen in October 2008, when I decided it would be nice to make socks for my husband.

They were then summarily ignored until July of last year, when I realized the first one was too small for His feet.

I kept working. I have no clue or documentation of when the first was finished, but there was what I called a sock-and-a-half in May's piles o' stuff post.




And now they're finished. I have started and finished nine pairs of socks since I started these. I'm really proud of myself for not quitting on them. They're pretty great, although much is lost in the blackness of the yarn. This was more of a challenge than I thought it would be, and while I won't say Never Again, I'm definitely a little burned out on dark socks for a while. Too bad I have two other pairs on the needles.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Many Thanks to Peg, Melly, Sarah, and Paige for their suggestions.

I have been listening to podcasts - listened to a new one (Planet-IRL is pretty cool, race fans!) today. Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me and NPR's Sunday Puzzle are standbys. I definitely plan to walk with friends on weekends - once I get one free, this summer is kind of slammed. The "walk to somewhere" thing is cool, but the only place I ever go is Birmingham - which is about 500 miles away. I think a monthly goal may be worthwhile, though. I'm going for 50 miles in July.

But today I'm at 42.5 miles, and I'm enjoying the Hitchhiker's Guideyness of it.

Thanks, friends! I'm excited about what's happening with my walking!

Milestones, Baby Steps, and Black Holes

Knitters talk of the phenomenon of the knitting black hole, in which you knit on your scarf or sweater or whatever for days and days and when you're done it's the same length you started with. I'm about to hit a stretch like that with the walking. I hit the 30 mile point on Friday.

I'm three weeks and 30 miles in, and I was proud of me, but so tired. I meant to walk on Saturday after weaving, but I was too exhausted, and stayed home, and then didn't walk last night either. This morning I set out intending to do a 2.5 mile Lap, but stormy lightning sent me home at the turnaround point - so only 1.67 miles were walked today. I'm trying to shake off the "but now it's not even!!!" annoyance and look at it like the knitting. If I only knit something when I can do a whole repeat, it takes me longer than getting a stitch or two in whenever I can. So maybe I'll even things up by taking another turn around the neighborhood loop on Wednesday, or maybe I'll just take a walk tomorrow morning and do the same length as today - it didn't take very long at all for a shorter walk.

Anyway, I'm looking for tips for the next 350 or so miles. Any ideas on how I can keep this interesting? I'm going to be walking elsewhere in July - two long weekend vacations will take me somewhere else and I plan to walk in both places. I have monthly goals to try and meet. Anything else I can do to make it fun?

Oh dear.

I took a weaving workshop. It's a three-day intensive, and Peg and I took the first day a couple weeks early due to work schedules. Day one was all about learning weaving - the terminology and the capabilities and the various how-to's involved in operating the loom. We tried weave patterns and a bunch of different yarns in a sampler on pre-warped 4-harness looms.

Yesterday and today were the second and third days. We started with winding warp, and threading the loom. We wound on by lunchtime, and this is what I had:



I started weaving, and soon had this:


Peg came by and took a picture of me, and this one cracked me up.


What? Weaving is serious business!

Our fabulous teacher, Benita, has posted the wrapup of everyone's work in her blog (And FYI, she's doing another workshop next month!). I finished up this morning, and went home with instructions for a light fulling. If possible, I love the scarf more now - the weave tightened up and bloomed and it's just lovely.

I'm in so much trouble. I loved doing this. I think I need a loom. And another two or three days in a week.

Happy Feet

A couple things finished in the recent past:

My Lost socks. Knit during the last season of the show, in Mandie's Oceanic colorway.



I wove in the ends during the pre-finale special.

I joined the Blue Moon Rockin Sock Club this year, and the second shipment was the one that first jumped on my needles. The pattern is Slip Jig, colorway My Wild Irishgirlie.



They're a little big, but that's ok, they're not for me. Such a fun and easy knit - these were finished just a few days before the 500.

That means that all the socks currently on the needles are some shade of black. Including the pair I pulled in May from my personal sock-of-the-month club.

So I'm thinking it's about time for a really brightly-colored sweater or two. Stay tuned.

Not there yet.

I woke up this morning and I really didn't want to walk. I had clean walking clothes, and it was before it was hot, but I really didn't want to go. I was tired, and there will be other less-fun tasks happening today, so eh. But I went anyway. I had downloaded a couch-to-5k podcast, and while I started the walk with the most recent Popcorn Dialogue, I switched to the 5k thing about 10 minutes in. I was able to run about two of those intervals, and I didn't even try several of them. But the beat of the music was good for getting me moving. So that's something. I think I did get done faster today, so that's something to think on.

Ok. 22.5 miles is not something I want to walk for as much as 20 or 25, but it's a step along the way. Tomorrow I'm hoping to be 5% in. And there will be knitting content soon, I promise.

I can apparently embed my spreadsheet in a post. I'm having issues doing the same with a sidebar widget. 7 Laps as of today. Realizing that branching out and extending the walk are going to be fairly natural. Yay for that, at least.

Are you having a good time?

Another Lap today, and I'm fifteen miles in. Six Laps total since last Monday.

Classes started back this week, so that's been an extra pile of work and activity. My walks are kind of a respite, hanging out with myself and my thoughts and my music. I definitely was glad to have it this morning. I like looking at my neighborhood, saying hi to other walkers and joggers, and waving as people drive by. It rained a little today as I was getting toward the end, and I liked that too. It's part of the way the world works, and I'm not going to do this 500 mile thing if I'm going to let a little rain stop me.

The pedometer issue is still unresolved. I replaced my el cheapo with another el cheapo, but it's seriously sad and icky. When I wore it on my 2.5 mile Lap (calibrated the same as the old one), it recorded about 1500 steps and 0.7 miles. Not ok. I can live without one for a while, but I'll definitely want to figure this out before I travel over the Fourth weekend. Sarah suggested the Omron, which another friend wears daily for a health insurance discount, so that's definitely in the running. Tammany and Kristen do the Nike+ thing with the iPod, and my dear Pod is four years old and starting to show it, so that's an option as well, but definitely the priciest of them (but if I have to replace one anyway...).

Pushing Through

Today I was going to walk. Yesterday was my first day back at work, and so I planned for an off day from the Lap, as I've been thinking of it. I wore my pedometer some at work, and some while shopping afterward. I'm still not sure whether to count that - I have a vague desire to only count in-daily-action pedometer steps in months that contain an R. (For whimsy, one might say.)

And this morning it rained and I really didn't feel like getting out of bed. So I went to work, and said "oh, I'll leave at a reasonable time walk when I get home, before knitting." Which is something, friends, I have said before many times. "I'll do it when I get home." And then I don't. I don't leave work on time, or I get home and sit down and stop, or I get sidetracked by an errand or two.

But today I didn't. I came home, changed into workout clothes, sat and watched tv for 20 minutes or so, and then went out. Stormclouds were threatening, but it wasn't raining, so I figured I would do the short walk if it got nasty out. I had deleted my playlist from earlier in the week so I just ran with my Defense playlist (made to psych me up for my dissertation defense four years ago), and went on out. It did not get nasty out, so despite some bargaining with myself about short-walk-or-long? I'm 3 laps in now.

(And I just checked my pedometer for yesterday's mileage and it's gone dead, so boo for that - need to get a new one before Saturday and the fiber festival.)

One lap down, 199 to go

My 500 started a little before 9 this morning, and I walked 2.5 miles in about 50 minutes. I stretched after a little warm-up and afterward, and I'm feeling really good, except for a little sunburn, but that has to do with yesterday, not the walking.

So there are a couple new links in the sidebar. One is to Timeanddate.com, which is a fabulously geeky calculation website. It's a countdown to next year's 500. The other is to my google spreadsheet where I'm planning on tracking my mileage.

As to how I'm tracking mileage - here's my two major tools: Gmaps Pedometer and a fairly standard $5 pedometer. I haven't gotten the little digital pedometer quite calibrated, but it's less egregiously undercounting than it was two weeks ago, so I'm feeling better about using it. And truly, I'd prefer it undercount than overcount. The Gmaps tool will be used for pretty much everywhere I walk or hope to walk more than once. I've already measured 1.6 and 2.5 mile routes in my neighborhood, and the block around work is .5 mile.

I hope to check-in here every week or so, and let y'all know about any cool/fun walks I run across. This Saturday I'll be taking a couple laps around the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival. See, fiber hobbies don't have to be sedentary!

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

So this has been May, and while I've had some time to relax and not work and to think about life and goals and stuff. And to clean my house some. And meanwhile I've spent major parts of three weekends now at the racetrack. I live in Indianapolis, and a love I've learned from my husband is the race-fan love. IndyCar racing is pretty cool, and the Indy 500 is amazing. He's been watching and listening to races his whole life, and the way he gently turned me on to the sport and the event is a testament to how well he knows me.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up and walk 2.5 miles in my neighborhood. Two and a half miles is the length of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track. This will be the first lap in my own Indy 500. I got back tonight from attending my fifth 500. And I have a goal to walk or run 500 miles before the next one.

I have more to say, but I'm going to leave that on the table tonight. Tomorrow will be time for details, and tracking, and all that. Tonight I'm gonna be the girl who will walk 500 miles.

Piles

Here's a pile of socks.



March's Rockin' Sock club, my March self-imposed sock club in pinky-green black, my Lost Socks in Mandie's Oceanic colorway, and that black hole in the middle? There's a sock and a half there that were first seen in this pile of socks. Yeah, that was more than eighteen months ago. They're flat black, patterned, and not for me.

Whittling down this pile is one of my break goals. I think I've knit a full sock's worth since finishing the spring semester a week ago.

I've also spun this: 2-ply shetland. Yum.



Oh, and since we're talking about piles, here's a pile of handspun yarn:
This is the yarn, minus the shetland, that I've finished since March. Yum!

Meanwhile, I'm flirting with the idea of weaving. Stay tuned.

Spinning Round and Round and Round

The Spunky Club group on Ravelry is having a Great Stash Spin-Up, where people are committing to spin down their stashes. The thread is really encouraging and inspiring, and so I've joined in. Here's what I've done since early March:


A worsted-weight chain-ply from Twisted Fiber Arts' Festive merino-silk fiber, colorway Circle. This should stripe and it's a yummy squooshy skein.


Two small skeins of fingering-weight singles, in Wensleydale fiber, colorway Cold Front. This was December's Spunky Club fiber, and it's a really neat yarn.


This is a dk-weight three-ply. I started it on my Sock Summit spindle around Thanksgiving, this is Bluefaced Leicester fiber from Spunky Eclectic, in the Diet Coke colorway. I'm so proud of this one.


And most recently, a fingering-weight three-ply. More Spunky Eclectic fiber, in the Panda base (merino/bamboo/nylon) and colorway Strawberry Fields.

There has been knitting, but not much to show lately. The mittens are stalled out while my brain is occupied with school stuff. Various socks, yeah. Spinning all kinds of good stuff as well. Yay yarn!

Down the Mitteny Rabbit Hole

I will admit, post-Olympics, I had a bit of knitting ennui. There had been some lovely victories, and I couldn't see past them. I had some kind of bizarre anti-startitis where no new project was good enough. I spent a day on Chris's neverending black socks, and then it came to me: mittens.

I'm going to a mitten retreat in Chicago in May, and I really don't have all that much experience with full-hand mitten knitting. Fingerless, sure, but I've only knit the one pair of mittens. And honestly, I'm a little tired of them. The angora/wool blend I made them from is still amazingly soft and warm, but they're sheddy and felty and not as pretty as they were back then.

I found an amazing pattern for lovely faux-traditional mittens with Seahorses. And as I spent the start of spring break (as it seems I do almost all my school breaks) trying to manage my yarn stash, I decided to break into the Smooshy collection and use two colors of that. I had followed the Yarn Harlot's Frankenmitten saga last fall, and did something similar.

I started winding yarn on Wednesday morning. Saturday morning this was finished.



I'm afraid it's going to be a longer time before my happy mitten has a mate (or a thumb)- this week has been too brain-destroying to knit colorwork, and so a week later I'm through the cuff of mitten 2. But really, is it so awful to have a longer project when it's this lovely, and squooshy? I think not.

Finished!

Right under the line, I suppose:

I cast off during the men's hockey gold medal overtime. At least, I started casting off then. Finished soon afterward.



Tonight after I finished some work stuff, I blocked it. Both of these are crappy nighttime pictures.



It's really pretty. I never stretched it out on a larger needle, so this was on a 16" circ the whole time, and I never realized how big it was getting or how striking the color striation was. I love it. Knitting it wasn't a joy-fest the way Shetland Triangle was, but part of that was the thick-and-thin nature of the handspun yarn - definitely imperfect and a little odd. Overall, I'm very pleased.

Olympics

I cast on my Knitting Olympics project at Paige's Olympic Cast-On Shindig, during the opening ceremonies. Despite a cold that knocked me out for a massive portion of the weekend, I was here by Sunday:



Here I am, a week later:



It doesn't look like much, but I promise it's progress. I have 20 g of yarn left, and my calculations make me think I can pull off one more repeat of the main chart, and then the edging chart. I may just make it!

Knitting tv has alternated between the first season of The OC and the actual Olympics. I am learning about sports I've never really watched before. Moguls skiing is awesome. All the sleddy stuff scares the crap out of me. The skating is really cool - and there are parallels in technique to auto racing (esp. short-track) that makes me want to watch more of it.

Knit on, folks. Faster, Higher, Stronger!

Apparently I've been knitting

Instead of blogging. Here, have a few finished things:

Socks. Garter Rib pattern, Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Jabberwocky. Love these. Warm, squishy, and fabulous. I've barely taken them off since I finished them Friday morning.



A scarf for my Mother-in-Law. Yarn is Malabrigo Twist, which is yummy. Pattern is Diagonal Lace Scarf, free on Ravelry.



And the most epic finished thing lately:



A cardigan, started in September of 08, it's finished, it fits, and it's warm and wooly and just what I needed for this snowy week. Pattern is Twist from Chic Knits, yarn is discontinued Knitaly, bought from a closing LYS. Woot.

That's it for now. There were a couple of other smaller things that got done too, but these are the biggies lately.

I'm working on an olympic project, I'll have an update on that soon.

New Year's Resolution

I need more handspun socks. These are awesome.