i seriously can’t believe how time is flying by. november, already? agh! i have been very very busy lately, assembling and packaging zine orders, working (because i know i never mention it, but i actually have a job, where i spend many hours during the week), and of course, knitting. for halloween, i was a squid. i knit my costume:
i will try to make better pictures happen soon. in the meantime, ravelry details are here. i have also been working on a number of other projects simultaneously. so far the only one with progress really worth showing is my brother’s christmas sweater. i feel okay posting this here because a) i don’t believe my brother reads this, or any blogs at all actually, and b) he picked this sweater and the colors out himself, so the only surprise will be whether this actually fits him. that said:
a very blurry photo, and also this morning i ended up knitting pretty much down to where the bottom of the pocket connects, which is awesome because it means the end of the body is near. i don’t mind some stockinette, especially in the round, but a men’s size xl sweater is a LOT of stockinette. i’m using the yarns suggested in the pattern, brown sheep lamb’s pride worsted and noro kureyon, so at least the yarn is a delightful treat after the pound of acrylic i used in my squid suit.
i’ve also made a good chunk of progress on my mom’s woodland shawl. originally i was trying to do that most quickly because i’m using my size 6 circular for it, and that’s also the needle i need for my sister’s sweater. my thought was that i could be thrifty and not buy another needle in the same size. i could just work one project, then the next. BUT. the size 6 i already own is a bamboo needle, which i’m not totally crazy about. it’s old and the points are getting dull. so if i bought myself a nice addi turbo circular, i would really be making more of a long-term investment than an impatient impulse purchase. am i right?
it feels like i have accomplished a good deal over the last few days. however, i am not singularly responsible for my progress. i owe a lot to netflix for making all of murder, she wrote available to watch instantly, to so delicious’s awesome coconut milk coffee creamer, and to new harvest roaster’s mild coffee that makes it easier for me to stay caffeinated all day without making my stomach feel like it’s on fire. i am so excited about the gifts i’m giving this year. also so excited about endless murder, she wrote marathoning. i leave you with this:
happy november!
i lied a little about doing nothing but knitting from now on. yesterday gary and i took a little field trip to mt. washington state park to hike around bash bish falls. bash bish. i know.
it was totally beautiful. we drove back roads through massachusetts and connecticut and got to enjoy tons of changing leaves, small towns and hot apple cider. when we finally got to the falls we ate vegan chicken salad sandwiches on top of a very scary ledge on the wrong side of the scenic overlook guardrail. i am so afraid of heights, but it was still really great.
totally cheesing. there were so many no swimming signs but seriously, you don’t even know how much i want to swim in this. also after four hours in a car, i was so psyched to be playing outside and seeing things like this. also, i totally knit in the car while navigating, so this still manages to count as productivity. my life is so fun sometimes. and now back to knitting!
i have been really falling down on the job lately. aka, i have no head. things are good, but things are busy. i’m racing through one project to get to the next five. not in a terribly stressful way, but still, i’m starting to feel it. i’ve also found some time to make new friends and sneak in what might be one of my last swimming trips of the season. right now as i type, my good friend shannon is visiting from maryland. this coming weekend i’ll go to pennsylvania to visit my family for a few days, which i’m really looking forward to. craft updates that will happen soon: gushing about my new spinning wheel, gushing about the drops cardigan (i’m almost done and i think it’s going to be good!), and gushing about what might be the best halloween costume idea i’ve ever had. in the meantime, feast your eyes on this picture of my beautiful cat hanging out in a tiny, tiny house:
as predicted, the end of my sock-knitting project left me with a void. a void that can only be filled by knitting things for myself. therefore:
i am knitting myself a sweater. sweaters can be complicated, for me at least. i need a sweater that is fun to knit, but that is also very wearable. i happen to like wearing things that are fairly plain. this translates to: lots of stockinette. i know that a lot of knitters dread this, but i will say that i find stockinette if not enjoyable, then at least benign.
(more enjoyable for me if it’s in the round – i hate purling! hate!)
i enjoy a basic fitted raglan or cardigan with a stockinette bod (yes, bod) and a more elaborate yoke pattern. i don’t mean that this is the only kind of sweater that i like, but i think that for me it’s incredibly wearable, but not incredibly boring to make. the stockinette can be kind of meditative, and the yoke patterns give me something fun to think about. the owls sweater i knit in february or march is a perfect example, and definitely my favorite sweater that i’ve knit so far.
keeping this in mind, i decided to cast on this drops design cardigan to use up the gold cascade 220 heathered yarn i’d bought on sale at webs a while back. i’m making a few changes to the pattern. my gauge is smaller, for one. i’m using worst weight yarn instead of aran, and size 6 needles instead of size 7. i’m also doing what a few other ravelers have done and knitting a 1×1 ribbed border instead of the moss and garter stitch suggested. my end result is hopefully also going to be less a jacket and more a fitted cardigan. let’s see how it goes – i’m about 2/3 done with the body, and then i’ll knit the sleeves two-at-a-time using magic loop (who knew i would love the magic loop so much?!) and then it’s on to the lace chart. i’m ready!
this is my first time knitting a drops design, and i have to say, i’m kind of into some of their other patterns. i’ve passed over them on ravelry plenty of times without paying much attention, but once i scanned through some of the project galleries, i realized that what may be turning me off is the a-line or bulky shaping that a lot of them have. but with a little modification, the patterns are actually right up my alley. a few more that i’m definitely interested in knitting: the 88-17 cardigan and the 116-1 cardigan and socks. you should probably just go browse their designs on ravelry. 63 PAGES of patterns. all so nordic and wintry. it’s pretty irresistible and kind of makes me forget that it is currently late august and 84 degrees outside.
Filed under: appreciation
yesterday was my birthday, and it was a nice one, don’t worry. it kind of started monday evening with some crafting and beers courtesy of waste not want not, and a trip to craftland across the street, where i bought myself this cute little fiber batt:
and on tuesday i got to spend time with wonderful friends. everyone who called, emailed, came to the e&o to have a beer with me, etc. made me really happy. it was a quiet but really nice night. meg made the most amazing vegan cupcakes i have maybe ever had in my life, i’m still trying to mentally process how awesome they are. and jess brought this little gem into my home and my heart:
i think that in my twenty-fourth year, i should probably do a richard simmons workout tape every night to really keep my life rich and fulfilling. my mom did mail me some new running shoes. although i suppose maybe i should use them for actual running, not just wiggling around in my apartment wearing leotards and drinking pabst. or maybe both.
jess lives in providence now! in under 24 hours gary and i have taken her swimming twice. i love our full haus. get out of my way everyone, i love summer!
i had to work at an office in bristol yesterday, which i was in no way bummed out about. i got up nice and early and took the east bay bike path from east providence to bristol. my hope was to get my work done and then enjoy a late afternoon of swimming at colt state park. the weather wasn’t really having it though, and the ol’ one-piece stayed in my bag. fortunately i at least didn’t get caught in a thunderstorm on the way there or back.
AND i found a new (to me) yarn shop in warren. AND i walked in and they were having a big sale! i have what i call the “yarn tourism loophole.” basically, even though i am trying very hard to destash and not to buy yarn that i don’t need for a project, i always let myself buy a fun skein of new yarn whenever i go to a new yarn shop. i justify this by acknowledging that i am supporting a local business that loves the thing i love. which is wool. however, in a sale situation, sometimes i may buy more than just that one permissible skein.
some noro silk garden sock yarn (30% off) and some sheep shop sheep one (50% off). i spent under $30 but got so much squishy wonderful yarn. i also learned while i was there that the sheep shop will be no more. and so you should go stock up on as much as your little heart can handle, either at your lys or online at the webs sale. i’m trying to be good and not buy any more. but i kind of want to just because i know that before long i won’t be able to! sheep one is just a nice single-ply squishy not-too-soft yarn, and the colors are so great. ugh. you should go buy it all so i can’t.
oh, and last week i went and got myself a motivational tattoo. it was done in providence by mike brousseau at federal hill tattoo. i think it’s perfect. and i mean, you know i’m always hanging in there. tonight this takes the form of stitch and bitch at waste not want not, followed by an outdoor screening of the big lebowski. i’m trying to come out of an antisocial phase. i think this is a pretty good way to do that.
have a fun weekend, kids. and be good!
still running around a lot. staying so busy. almost done with socks, which is exciting although it makes me feel a little weird – they’ve been my main project for so long that i’m not really sure what i’ll do when they’re gone. i mean, i’ll figure it out. but it’s going to be like some kind of weird postpartum depression for a sec.
otherwise, i have been living on a pretty steady diet of beer and homemade burritos. i’m not ever going to complain about that.
also lots of biking around with beers in my bag and enjoying them at various locations. on i think friday, gary and i went to buy a six pack of pbr at tropical liquors, and when we got there, we realized we’d forgotten our ids. we got so annoyed about being carded that when we got back to the store, we bought two six packs and each drank one ourselves. that’ll show ‘em.
it was nice. also nice: i took some clothes down to barter at waste not want not last wednesday night, and i found a pair of black jeans to replace the ones that uh…shrunk over the last year or so. i got to clean out my closet a little, and then it was like getting a pair of pants for free. i love trading. it’s so much more useful to me than buying.
started trying to draw. i’ve never really done this regularly or been very good at it, but i always kind of wanted to. even though my drawings are a little butt, it’s been fun. maybe i’ll stick with it. lately i’m trying to do more things that i don’t feel good at. there’s not point in only doing the things you already know you can do i guess.
walking down newbury street in boston, i realized i hadn’t looked up any local yarn shops, which is weird because that’s usually the first thing i do in a new city. and just as i said that, i saw the sign for newbury yarns. the shop was so cute and packed with fun things, and the women working there were so nice. i bought myself a tiny treat of course.
and even though i’m not currently working on this blanket, i wanted to share the uglyprogress. it’s only going to get more gnarly from here on out. maybe when i’m done with socks i’ll work on this for a tiny bit. i’ve started a few blankets but never ever finished one. i don’t want to drop the ball this time too.
oh, and remember when i saw willie nelson for free? there was a no camera rule, but fortunately it is not hard to find pictures of willie nelson on the internet, and that is what i did for your viewing pleasure here. i love him so much. it was total luck that i got to see this for free. i’m grateful to sweet friends who like to share what they’ve got. hannah and meghan and gary and i had a really fun night. you seriously can’t understand a word bob dylan says anymore, but still, amazing. oh and also john cougar mellencamp. but seriously. willlie nelson. it was in no way disappointing. my life is really fun and good most of the time.
i have had so many great adventures lately i can’t even sit still to document them right now. i’m THAT excited. for now, consider this: i have been listening to “the sign” by ace of base at least twice daily for the last few weeks, and in some of my recent adventuring, i have most certainly seen some signs…
sometimes you just need that special ace of base touch in your life to make your adventures a little more magical.
next time i will tell you about: replacing my black jeans (for free), exploring massachusetts, seeing bob dylan and willie nelson (also for free), craft nights, my most motivational tattoo yet, zine updates, and obviously knitting. because i still do that, i promise.
last night after knitting for a little bit at the taqueria, meg and emmanuel and i wandered over to waste not want not on westminster after being told by amelia about knit and natter on monday nights. things were quiet, but we got to poke around a little and this place is seriously really amazing. i’m so psyched that it exists. from their facebook page:
“Unlike any business that Providence has known, this business promotes resourceful creativity through recycling, reuse and repurpose of reclaimed materials and found objects. The shop promises to introduce new concepts and forward thinking to a city known for its thriving arts community. This non-profit business model is three fold, with a focus on thrift store sales, textile workshop and “upcycled,” boutique apparel, accessories and home ware.”
we walked in on a knitting machine lesson/demonstration and were so impressed and excited. monday nights are knit and natter nights, from 6 to 9. and on stitch and bitch happens on thursday nights:
how can you even argue with this flyer? amazing. i’ll definitely make it down to knit on thursday night. if you live in or around providence and like to knit or crochet, you should too. i think this place will be an awesome resource for conscientious, crafty people. and because i can get more than a little reclusive, it’s nice to find something new that will drag me out of the house and put me in a place full of people with a common interest. i kind of wish it was thursday already! go look at this place if you haven’t already.
