Fall comes to the Sierras

I'm still here.....working! I've been working ~50 hours/week over the last three weeks, and I'm having some major burn-out. I don't have any new knitting to report, 3 WIPs, some Christmas projects (only 2 for Christmas.....more than that would be impossible for me!). I'm having a very stong urge to cast on a lace shawl since seeing your finished project. I'm not sure I have the mental fortitude at this point, but I did buy 1200 yards of dark green lace weight merino, now I just have to find the right pattern.

The work situation should improve over the next few weeks, I'll be back to working 3 days/week, so that might be a good time to start the lace project.

We went to Yosemite 2 weekends ago, and had a wonderful time. I wanted to share some pics. We had a very brief visit, but it was a good time. We visited the Yosemite valley, of course; half-dome is unbelievable in person! We also did a short hike through 1 of Yosemite's 3 groves of Sequioas (all very small, ~20-30 trees) and went to a stargazing program at 10 pm with a Yosemite ranger. It was chilly when we arrived, and just got colder, 22 degrees at night!



Kane in front of a very small-looking Sequoia.



This picture does a little more justice, to help appreciate how big the trees really are!

Also, about 4 weeks ago, we visited San Francisco and had a nice time, but there was an awesome yarn factory/distributor/spinner called "artfibers". They had factory ends and undyed hanks galore. I really had to contain myself, but I did buy two HUGE undyed hanks of merino/silk blend. Both hanks have about 800 yards of worsted weight yarn, defintely enough to make a sweater or two even! $60!!!!! If you guys get the chance to come visit, we'll defintely go visit because it's certainly worth the trip!



I did have one project that has the knitting portion completed. I need to line it and sew the straps on....I got these great purse straps at Jimmy Bean's . I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to sew them on securely, but I think that it will look nice once it's completed. The entrelac pattern was really fun to follow, especially knitted in the round.



I'll post pictures when I've completely finished the bag. I hope you both are doing well and enjoying the cooler weather. We certainly are, but unfortunately we have to spend the day looking for a new car.
Enjoy the weekend!

Welcome, Autumn!

I love putting on socks for the first time every fall. And its even better when they are handknit ones! Fall is in the air - even though it is still 85 here in 'bama, the air is a little crisper, and the breeze blows a little more often. It doesn't take much to get me in the mood for fall... it is my favorite season. I took this picture a couple days ago when it was actually cool enough to justify socks, but I have to tell you. The dead leaves? They're from the draught - the tree in my front yard is dying.

I finished up my spring greenie scarf:

Pattern: Midwest Moonlight, but Leigh Radford

Source: Scarf Style

Yarn: Jaeger Monte Cristo, from the thrift store

I like it - the yarn is perfect for the pattern and I love how it feels and how it drapes. But the color? I'm still working on liking it. I have a brown leather jacket that I think it will look really nice with.

To welcome in autumn, I am starting on a fallish pair of socks, and I made venison stew for dinner. It doesn't get more autumn than that. Now, if only it wasn't so hot outside!

Will I Have Enough?

So this is what I have been working on. One of the magazines you gave me, Jaime, had a step-by-step interloc pattern in it that I am following. It looks pretty nice, I think. The only problem is that I may run out of yarn. I think you gave me this yarn, too, Jaime. Do you remember where you got it or what kind it is? Maybe I could hunt down some more. I don't think it had a tag or anything with it because it was in the ball like that. If it's not long enough to be a scarf I could always just make it some sort of hanging tapestry or table runner, or maybe see what happens if I felt it.

Things are good for me now. I am so busy. My Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays I have class all day until 4:30 with no breaks, so by the time Wednesday night knitting club comes around I am ready to just turn my mind off. I am a Teaching Assistant for a class called Physical Geology, a basic lab science class for non-majors. I teach the labs, and I think it's going to be really fun and a good experience. This week we're talking about energy associated with sediment transport and how it depends on sediment size and environment. It's cool because on the bluffs of the Mississippi, you can see three layers which are all sedimentary rock that covers parts of SE Minnesota-- the St. Croix Sandstone, the Glenwood Shale, and the Platteville Limestone.

I'm also going to be learning a lot about Minnesota geology in one of my classes, Glacial Geology. I'm excited because we have a field trip every week during our lab period, which from 1:30-4:30 Friday afternoon. This time would suck a lot, if it weren't for the fact that we actually got to get outside and look at rocks, every single week! This week we went to look at the Glacial till that covers the St. Croix Sandstone throughout a lot of SE Minnesota.

Anyway, I'm also really excited about knitting. It is in Loring Park, which is a long 20 minute bike ride from where I live in Seward neighborhood. So, I'm a little worried about the haul over there this winter. But, I really like it. There are two girls there, Anna and Brooke, who are marvelous. Both grad students, (Brooke is actually a geology grad student, crazy...) and both really fun, down-to-earth, and easy to talk to. It's cool that I'm making some really good new friends through knitting! I think next week we're meeting at the Bad Waitress, a little cafe with a wine bar, and have some wine while knitting. A little more excitement than the Dunn Brothers we usually meet at. And, more relaxing than coffee.

And.... speaking of bicycles... I got a different one a couple weeks ago. I bought it secondhand and it's I think from the 80's, a Panasonic. It's shiny and red and matches my helmet, and it's soooo much nicer than my old, cheap, rusty mountain bike I was riding. If I would have fixed up my old bike, it probably would have cost more than this one cost. And, it flies....

Another new thing-- I moved! And I love it. I moved into a house (see photo!) that three of my best friends used to live in, but they all moved out (one to Kenya and one to Ecuador for a semester, oy....and one across campus) and I am living here with the two guys they lived with, and two new girls who are also just great. They are all really laid back, and everyone is a little older so we all already sort of have our friends, but also everyone is really friendly and wants to be friends... It's really great. Plus, the house is just really cute. The landlords, a family with a 3 year old boy and a first grader (Milo and Marta) live on the main level and we have the 2nd and 3rd floors. The only problem is its a bit drafty, and it's been colder in here lately than it has been outside. Other than that, it's hardwood floors and this nice dark woodwork, and we have this great little back balcony that makes me feel like I should smoke or something because it's perfect to go out there at night and just ponder for a bit. And, theres a sun room on the front with big windows and lots of plants. My room is little but it's painted this light citrus-y green that goes really well with all my decor (blue, green, and rust colored) So, I'm really happy. Plus, it's in a great neighborhood. It's quiet, with really pretty houses with really pretty huge gardens. Its really close to the river, about a 10 minute ride to campus, and close to the Greenway, this bike path that goes to from Southeast Mpls to southwest Mpls and to a lot of great places (like my friend Joelle's house). It's a LOT nicer than swerving through traffic.

Ok. That just about sums up everything going on in my life right now. Its' fall, its cool and crisp and gorgeous. I thought it was still supposed to be warm out, but it's cool and crisp. If this means we get Winter a month early, too, then I'm going to be upset, but for now I'm just enjoying it. My friend Joelle and I went to the farmers market yesterday and bought a bunch of vegetables including a spaghetti squash and made dinner last night. Yum. Next weekend a bunch of us are going camping about an hour south of the cities which will be cool because I haven't really been south of the cities a lot in Minnesota. And right now I'm going to go bike to a coffeeshop and focus on some good old calculus. One last semester. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it........ Maybe.

All Yarn Still Intact

Thankfully, the burglar didn't have a taste for yarn, so all my yarn and yarn paraphernalia are still intact. Last night I finished up this hat that I have been working on for a while:

The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed and I got the idea from a pattern in the book The Yarn Girl's Guide to Beyond the Basics, but I didn't really follow the pattern. It has a hemmed edge, which is tres chic :) I have lots of yarn left over, so I will be able to make more hats with this yummy yarn. Tweed is so fallish and I love it! It seems like around this time every year I get the itch to make hats. I have been seeing all kinds of cute hat patterns lately - cabled hats, lace hats, striped hats, berets... I want to make them all. But see, here in Alabama, I rarely ever need a hat, yet, I already have 3, no 4, hats. Oh well, some day I will move somewhere very cold where I will need many hats. Until then, they will sulk in my drawer with my ever growing collection scarves.

Oooh, speaking of scarves. I started a kinda fun, funky scarf a couple weeks ago, but it was sidelined for the aforementioned hat.
I'm not really sure who this is for. I'm not really a bright color person, but I do kind of like the funkiness of it. The pattern is Midwest Moonlight from the book Scarf Style and the yarn is Jaeger Monte Cristo. I got this yarn at the thrift store a while back and it has been sitting in my stash while I wondered what I could possible do with bright green cotton yarn. I saw this pattern and it just seemed to fit. What do you think?

The case of the apartment with bad karma

Yesterday, after being gone for one night, I came home to a broken window on the front of my house. Saturday night someone smashed my window, broke into my house, and took my computer. I had just backed up all my data 2 days before, so I only lost one day worth of data, which was very fortuante. However, I had some data sheets in my computer bag that had not been entered or backed up, so those are gone too. That is the worst news. My computer really was a piece of crap and I was planning on buying a new one soon.

But it was scary. I live in a duplex, so there is another apartment next to mine. The guy that lives there was gone for the weekend as well, so it seems like whoever did this was watching us and knew we were both gone. It was a really ballsy thing to do. I live on a fairly well - traveled street, it was my front window they broke - probably with a hammer or something...

It was just really scary... I don't know why they chose my apartment. I don't really own anything valuable, like I said, all they took was my computer, which really was a piece of crap, anyway. My TV is from like 1983, my cd player is a little newer, but not by much, and my DVD player isn't anything special. They took it off of my TV and unplugged it like they were going to take it, but they left it on the floor. Strange. They also went through my dresser drawers, jewelry box, my desk, and various other possible storage places (like the tins I keep buttons in. Apparently they weren't impressed with my vintage button collection. Or all the recipts I keep in my jewerly box, since I have no jewerly. Or the yarn I keep in my dresser drawers. They robbed the wrong house.)

It just feels like such a violation - it is going to be hard to feel safe there anymore, and its going to be really hard to stay there alone. It is especially creepy to think that someone might have been watching me. Ugh.

When I found this apartment, about a year ago, I was really excited because I had finally found a place that had some character, had a yard, was in a 'neighborhood' (and not an apartment complex), and I could afford. But I had this weird, bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Of course, I ignored it. I mean, what could go wrong? Its not like the place would be outrageously expensive to heat in the winter (its Alabama!), or that the furnace would break at least two times a month, or that the bathroom would be unbelievably disgusting when I moved in, or that the place would turn out to be infested with rats, or that the backyard would be infested with fleas, or that there would be a serious ant problem in the kitchen, or that the air conditioners would never really work properly, or that someone would eventually smash the window and break in, right? Wrong-o.
My lease is up at the end of the month, but it is all a matter of finding someplace new to live and moving. It makes me ill to think about having to move. I dread moving. But this place has bad karma; its just been one thing after another since I moved here. I just wish someone could just find a place for me, and then move all my stuff. Then I could decorate. I like that part.

Soft and Squishy Baby Bolero

Pattern: Baby Bolero by Leigh Radford

Source: One Skein

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton (1 skein)

Needles: #8 & #9

Start: 8/31/07

Finish: 9/2/07

Another incredibly quick knit... I knit this up in three days. And boy, is it cute! And tiny! It is going, along with the little booties, to a high school friend who is expecting her first baby (and the first baby in our group of friends!) in October. The shower is this Saturday, which unfortunately I can't attend, but I sent it along with another friend. The back has a little motif that, according to Eastern folklore, brings protection to the wearer.

Now, about this yarn! It is amazingly soft, squishy, smooshy, and yummy. I have never use it before and I was pleasantly suprised. Usually cottons aren't all that soft. The only problem is that is isn't machine washable, which makes it not very practical for baby wear. But I do love this little sweater - I think I will be making more of these as the babies start appearing!

Liesel

So you're probably wondering if I did any knitting on vacation, right? I finished the socks for my dad on the drive up. And one afternoon at home, I finished the scarf for my aunt:

Pattern: Liesel by Mary Joy Gumayagay

Yarn: Classic Elite Renaissance, 2 skeins

Needle: #8

Start: 7/14/07

Finish: 8/23/07

This was a really easy and fun scarf to knit. It went fairly fast, and even faster because I didn't make it very long. I didn't memorize the pattern, but since it was so small, I didn't really mess up much at all. I love how this yarn and the pattern mix so well... I wasn't sure about using a variagated yarn with this pattern, I always tend to question using variagated yarns and patterns because a lot of times they seem to fight with each other. But this time they don't, do they?

So, I've got my first Christmas gift finished and it's only September... pretty good, eh? Well, I know that this fall is going to be crazy at school, so I wanted to get an early start. I'm almost through with a second Christmas gift as well, but then that will be it for a while.

Are you gals planning any Christmas knitting?

'Sconnie

Our trip to Wisconsin was fantastic - we left the 105+ temperatures behind in Huntsville and arrived in Wisconsin to temps in the 70's. That is my kind of weather! Unfortunately, it was a little to cold to do any swimming, but we still spent lots of time near the water - taking the dogs to the beach, lots of fishing, canoeing, and just general lounging by the lake. I thoroughly enjoyed the week. I didn't catch a single fish, despite lots of casting, but Bill caught a musky, a small mouth and two northern pike, so he did fairly well. I think we were all hoping for the BIG FISH, but he just wasn't hungry...

I think my dad liked the socks I made for him for his birthday - they were one of my secret projects. Just a basic K2P2 rib in Trekking XXL yarn.

If you want to see more pictures from our trip, I've uploaded some to my Flickr account.