shiny fuzzy monkey

So, carpal tunnel surgery happened.

2011-09-23T15:21:00.001-07:00

And now I get to try knitting again, and I'm a little apprehensive.

nnngh Brioche

2010-01-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

Playing around with the Brioche Helmet hat for C4... I might use the band for my next beret (Meret by Woolly Wormhead).

Friends got me sick. Southwest Airlines messed up my week and caused me to miss the first day of classes... sort of. It was either get four hours of sleep in a cruddy hotel with no change of clothes, or just say screw it and turn around and go home.

Hmm. Four hours of sleep in a Quality Inn, or five extra days with Graham... tough call.

Finished 1 Delicato Mitt!

I'm working on the beret in Purlescence hand-dyed worsted--it's looking great. Thinking of making short-row earflaps like on the Brioche Helmet, so I can have a beret ande warm ears too.

COOKIE IS AWESOME

2008-09-30T21:11:00.001-07:00

Wow, this stuff is old...

But I have an Italian Diction midterm to finish.

Saturday = all day classes with Cookie A. of the amazing sock designs. So now I have ANOTHER sock on the queue, this one designed by YOURS TRULY and replete with Bavarian twisted stitch work. Also, I absolutely MUST get those three German books I pulled my stitches from. And I'll probably do some Cookie twisty socks first to get the hang of it.

*SWOON*

:)

ambivalence!

2008-08-03T03:08:00.000-07:00

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I'm feeling remarkably ambivalent about packing up, picking up stakes and moving to sunny (not) Michigan. This ambivalence surfaces in behaviors like sleeping twelve hours at a stretch, avoiding the piano and the stacks of music that need organizing and work, ignoring my email box and those several things I meant to do over the summer, and generally hiding out in my knitting circle and/or safe dark burrowing place. I've been surrounding myself with yarn and fiber, and I really do wonder if it's some sort of twisted-about nesting instinct, since I'm about to say farewell to my house for a few months.

Lovely, wonderful party tonight with lots of people, though I felt a bit odd around lots of strangers. I hid when I felt the need, gave in to the peer pressure of knitting, and kept myself entertained, though, and all in all had a nice time.

I really, REALLY need to sing.

Graham's interminable Trekking socks are at nearly 50%, and I have a pattern in development for the "Think Outside the Sox" Contest. And I'm going to Stitches Midwest, after YEARS of STITCHES DEPRIVATION. Every single time S West has come round, for the past several years, I've had some sort of school obligation in the way: a recital, an opera performance, a weekend of rehearsals I couldn't miss. Now here I am, starting orientation in Ann Arbor on August 24, and behold! Stitches Midwest is just the weekend before. I've signed up for lots of classes and I'm all excited about going!

fun with blogs and socks and stuff

2008-03-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Graham's Trekking socks are ALMOST ALMOST 50% done.

I'm getting the hang of some new HTML, mainly because I want to put up a troubadour song and its translation on one of my Terre d'Ange blogs.

I'm SO going to Purlescence tomorrow and Sunday.

Rocktober woe

2008-01-10T22:27:00.000-08:00

Well, after trying about four different patterns and stitch counts, I've settled on a modified wavy cable. I'm HOPING the colors will move a little; I keep ending up with stretches of a row of orange/rust with green in the next row, which is REALLY bugging the OCD color coward in me.

I sat down with it at 7 after buying schoolbooks and said to myself, "I'll just play around with a couple of rows..." An hour and a half later I had ripped out 7-8 rows of lace, re-knit them in a different pattern, and fiddled with math until I finally found an option that would work.

Oy. And I *didn't* get my CD editing done. :p

Rocktober blues

2008-01-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well, although *I* don't much like Rocktober the way it's knitting up, one of my friends says she might. So she might get lovely socks!

Oh and coyotes are singing!!! YAY!

Ravelry YAAAAAAAAAY!

2008-01-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Today I got my Ravelry invite!!! YAAAAAAY!

I am, of course, shinyfuzzymonkey there!

:) ook ook ook! AAA!

Finished Objects!!!!

2008-01-02T01:23:00.000-08:00

Yaaaay! I finished something for a deadline!

Graham's Knucks were ready for Christmas morning! I knit them in Malabrigo, which in retrospect was not the smartest since they will pill like gangbusters--but he really likes them, and I figure they're mostly for NERO anyway. Also, I finished Rogers promised hat from LAST YEAR, to go with his scarf (the nifty super-cabled Braided Mischief from Scarf Style.

What's more, I had a gratifying encounter with another FO: the hat I gave my father-in-law Derek, which was my first knitted gift! It's just a simple watchcap made of big bulky Patons wool, but apparently he likes it and wears it, since he had it with him when driving around up at Tahoe.

Also, I have almost finished my Interweave index and will hopefully be posting it soon!

WIP list:

Graham's interminable Trekking socks (#1 is ALMOST done!)
Toe-Up Rocktober test knee socks for me
Susan Beall's Manos scarf (still trying to work out a pattern!)
Bonnet for Baby Boo
Tempting (1 glove done, 1 just cast on!)

In Exile:
Bliss Baby Cardigan - might finish this for Nathania! Though I'm not sure it'll be suitable for giving away.
Pence Pouch from Just One More Row - my gauge has probably changed so much I should rip it out, wind the yarn on a ball winder, and start again from the other end. I was knitting so tight when I started that I kept breaking the cotton chenille yarn!

Coming up: Swell for Graham - I will probably cast on the earflaps and start them, but will wait for my Fair Isle class on the 12th to do more.

I spent most of the holidays knitting instead of working! But I feel good. Spent loads of time at Purlescence hanging out and chatting and knitting, and I think I need the safe time / rest. I'm heading back to SoCal tomorrow and feeling ill and stressed tonight. But I will take along my new bitchen Amy Butler knitting bag, and my current projects to keep me company; maybe I can knit in one of my lecture classes or something.

In the beginning...

2006-09-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

...there was someone who typed like a rabid monkey on drugs. And she liked to make stuff. What sort of stuff? Well, first it was sewing costumes and clothes... then making shiny beady stuff... then embroidering on stuff... then buying yard upon yard of quilting fabric and coming up with neat ideas for quilting stuff... then crocheting stuff... then getting into soft squishy fuzzy yarn and knitting stuff.

Now, there are several closets and many boxes and shelves full of stuff like yarn and fabric and beads, all of which can be used to make other stuff. Shiny stuff, and fuzzy stuff. Soft and cuddly stuff. Fun stuff.

In fact, if I spend the rest of my life making stuff, I probably won't run out.

That's where my friends come in. See, I think I should give some of my stuff to OTHER people who make stuff... so that they, too, can have the joy of making cool stuff.