You're right, I have been knitting

I've been knitting and not writing about it. Time has just been flying lately... I don't know where October went. Or September for that matter... I don't even remember September. Anyway, I've been doing a little knitting - mostly smallish projects. I made a Koolhas hat for my friend Seth when we met up in Wisconsin for a little adventure a few weeks ago. I used a ball of Cascade 220 that I had leftover from my Tree Jacket and I lined it with fleece so it wouldn't be scratchy. I was happy because Seth really liked it - he wore it the whole weekend and kept showing it to other people. I tend to knit for other people whether they appreciate it or not - and I wasn't sure if he would - but its always a good feeling when people really do appreciate it. I only got one really crappy photo of it, though:

The photos from the beginning of the post are from my trip home. I had an terrific time. I packed a lot in for the short time I was there. And for missing my flight to WI. But we won't talk about that. Anyway, we went to a wedding of one my high school friends and saw lots of other friends there. We took a little camping trip up to Door County, where the weather and the colors were spectacular. And we went to a Packer game and tailgated with some other friends. The Packers won and the UW band played during half-time. It really was a blast! It was a perfect fall getaway... it made me all the more homesick, though :(

I made another hat, this one for myself. Its the Urchin Beret pattern by Ysolda Teague. The yarn (Lumpy Bumpy by Farmhouse Yarns) I picked up here in Albuquerque when I came for my interview. It was 'souviner' yarn because at that point, I wasn't sure if I'd be coming back. I absolutely love the yarn and the pattern suits it perfectly. I've been wearing this hat quite a bit already.

And now I'm working on a pair of socks... it is the Mystery Sock pattern that was part of Socktober fest. Right now I am about 70% finished with them. I wanted to finish them by the end of October for Socktoberfest, but now its November and they're not done... I've only got the feet to do on each sock, so I should have them finished pretty soon.

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend - the weather is lovely here. I hope it is wherever you are too!

Winter sweater in the middle of summer

Pattern: Skating Sweater

Source: Twinkle's Big City Knits

Yarn: Rowan Big Wool

Needle: US 17

Start: February 2, 2008
Finish: August 24, 2008

I started this sweater way back in February, knit about two inches and put it aside. I picked it up again a few weeks ago and finished it in less than a week... Knitting on size 17s goes fast! I had originally made a different sweater (Venus) with this yarn, but I didn't like how that sweater fit and I never wore it because it was impracticle - 3/4 sleeves in heavy wool just doesn't work. So I ripped it and knit this with the yarn. Anyway, I like this sweater much better; it is really comfortable and soft. And its gonna be really warm! I think I will wear it quite a bit.

I pretty much knit it as in the pattern; however I lengthened it by about 3 inches and widened the sleeves by 6 stitches. Even with that modification, the sleeves are still pretty tight. And I have rather stick-like sleeves.

*****

Molly and I went with a couple friends to Chaco Culture National Historic Site yesterday. It was an amazing place to visit and we are excited to go back again this fall when it is a bit cooler and we can stay overnight. It is in the middle of nowhere (~75 miles from the nearest town), so the night sky is supposed to be amazing. There are more pictures on my Flickr, if you're interested.

i'm back!

I've returned from the wild, wild west with proud achievements, sort of Speaking of kids, does anyone know any 12 year olds, because I accidentally made a tank top that would only fit a 12 year old. It's really cute!! But I think I'd need more than just a diet to make it fit me. I've even got a little rock hammer for scale for you (I've been in the field too long!). I'm sure I'll find someone though. I made up the pattern and had to restart about 18 times, first it was waaaaaaaay too big, then it was waaaaaaay too small, then it was still too small, then I thought it was just right (WRONG) ... Oh well. Maybe I'll make another one that actually fits, because I think at least the shaping/pattern I made up is pretty cute.

As far as all the amazing things I saw out west, in Montana, Idaho, Utah and (east/northeast) Nevada... you should check out mylittleredbicycle for photos. But I will leave you with this one... a view from the top of Block Mountain, which was in one of our field area for intro camp.

Craft-o-rama 2008

I had a great weekend... I was in Chattanooga late last week for a conference and I stayed for the weekend to meet up with my knitting/crafting girls from Huntsville for Craftorama 2008. We had been planning Craftorama 2008 for some time before I even left Huntsville, but the timing just never seemed to work out. So when I found out that I would be going to Chattanooga for this conference, I inquired if they were interested in finally getting together for Craftorama 2008. And everyone was in!

We actually did quite a bit of crafting, even though some of us were a little skeptical as to whether that would happen or not. We did lots of eating, lots of gossiping, there was lots of baby talk (with two preggos along), lots of walking (despite the two preggos), shopping, more eating, more crafting, etc., etc., etc. All in all, we had a fantastic time and we're already making plans for Craftorama 2009 - in British Columbia?

In proper Craftorama spirit, I (1) brought knitted clothing along to wear:

and (2) sprint-knitted to finish the baby sweater for Jana's baby:

More about both of those in another post!

I'm back...

I had a really great time in Idaho... I worked with three really fun and hard-working guys, spent every day outside in the sun and wind, only got sunburned once, learned to identify all kinds of grasses, and saw a ton of raptors, antelope, groundhogs, and a couple moose. After all the moaning and complaining I did about having to go, it turned out to be a really great month.

Not much time for knitting, though. I knit a few days, but we were working 10 to 13 hour days, so there really wasn't much leisure time. And pretty much all the leisure time I had I spent sleeping. But now that I'm back home, I've had more time for the sticks... I'm working on the fourth version of a baby sweater for my friend's baby. She's having a girl (yay! the first girl of all my friends' babies). I've finally decided on Helena, from the most recent issue of Knitty.

I've pretty much done all of this over the weekend... I've been working on it like crazy so I can send it off before the baby comes. And because I have a ton of other gifts to work on... everyone I know is either getting married or having babies. I really like to give personalized gifts, especially for my close friends, but it is getting to be a lot of work!

I also started a pair of socks, Retro Rib from Favorite Socks. I'm making them with yarn I dyed last summer with coreopsis flowers. Cheryl dyed a bit of the yarn brown for me so that I can have contrasting heels and toes... I think they are going to look really nice.

Don't Mess with Texas?

I'll second everything Jill said, but I'm not making any moving plans quite yet. UT was HUGE, the campus was gorgeous and very impressive, and the geology department building and facilities were awesome.

However, I also got a lot of bad vibes about my potential advisor. For example, the first thing I learned was that he is the "antichrist", he is a bad communicator and will not form relationships outside a very official advisor relationship with students (they didn't even know he was having a child until it was born), he treats his male students a lot differently, and he can throw some very stinging comments at you about your work, which makes it difficult to talk to him about problems. But, I will say that those opinions come from two students that I believe are also crazy. What it really comes down to is that I don't think I really want to do the research he does. He does work with eruption dynamics of volcanoes and the project I could work on would have to do with why some magmas (continental volcanoes) form bubbles as they rise and degas CO2 and other volatiles while other magmas (mid ocean ridges) do not. The actual work would be running experiments and then counting the bubbles and measuring their size and surface area to try and figure out if there is a pressure and temp or a time (rate of ascent) cutoff to form the bubbles. I think it's interesting, but my true interest lies more in the area of mantle dynamics and deeper processes.
Thankfully, I just received notice that I was accepted at Oregon State, who has a person who does things more along those exact lines. The package wouln't be as sweet, and the facilities (and everything else that comes with being the richest geology school in the country) probably wouldn't be either, but I think it is worth it to be working with someone I get along with and doing something I actually want to be doing. I also was accepted to University of Missouri, but they guy there does things more with magma viscosities and eruption dynamics also, so I'm not sure about that. I applied at a broad range because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly, but I have become more focused since I applied 3 months ago.

Otherwise, it was a great weekend. I met a bunch of really cool people, including this hilarious southern girl from Auburn, and of course the "its a small world" requirement of two guys from Minnesota, one of whom I had actually run into once before without really knowing it. I'll probably see them again around the city this semester, so that's cool, since more friends are always good.


The photos show some of my highlights....
1. Cupcake, anyone?
2. Cutest girls in Texas
3. Austin at night
4. Texas Hill Country
5. Thrift shoppin
6. Green Texas?
7. Park
8. Texas Hill COuntry -- The *other* Colorado River


Oh, and i've been a bit busy to knit lately... but I am almost done with one sleeve of KAL II

Lone Stars

Molly & I had a fantastic time in Austin...we could definately live there, but if I did, I would probably spend way too much money and eat way too many beans. So, I'm still not sure...

Most of our weekend was spent doing one of the following things:

Thrifting and vintage shopping,

My vintage treasures: super-cool red shoes,

interesting alarm clock, embroidered dress,

green and yellow fabric.

consuming delicious pasteries, coffee, and various entrees containing tortillas or black beans (or both),

and hangin out with Hillary and Barak.

While we did manage to find an absolutely devine (and incredibly large) yarn store, which was in fact a bit overwhelming, we spent no time knitting. Molly brought her KAL II sweater along & I tried it on... fit perfectly, so I measured it... 14" across at the bust. Mine is 17". Not good. So, I tried mine on when I got home and indeed, it is much too large. So, I must rip back and start again from the cowl. Ahhhh... well, I'm glad I figured it out now & not later, but I think it might be spring before I finish it! I am also working on some blue cabled socks. The yarn is Kollage Lucious, a cotton sock yarn I've had for a while. And last night, instead of doing school work, like I should have, or working on the sweater, or even working on the sock, I decided to cast on for two (yes, two) new projects. I have determined that cast-on-itis is a definate side effect of me being too stressed out. And so I shall end this post and get back to the work at hand (only ONE MONTH left. help.)

Oh, and I uploaded some more pictures from our trip to my flickr account if anyone is interested.

Go for the cheesecake

I had a great time in Chicago - It was great to just spend a few days with a good friend, eat yummy food, and relax. Mary lives north of the city in a really cute little neighborhood with the train, parks, the lake, a few stores, and a yarn store (yes, a yarn store) within walking distance. We spent one day just hanging out there, and the other two exploring the city. We rented bikes and rode up the lakeshore one afternoon, stopping at a couple beaches to laze on the beach, drink smoothies, and eat ice cream. The other day was spent doing a little shopping, walking down the Magnificient Mile, and people watching in Millenium Park. She took me out to eat at the Chicago Diner (near Wrigley Park), and if you are ever in Chicago, you must eat here - fabulous vegan food. I had a delicious dinner of polenta with vegetables, black beans, and spanish rice; and for dessert we tried raw cheesecake (i guess its made with finely ground up cashews, coconut oil, and some other stuff I can't remember). It was to. die. for. I mean, for real, delicious. All in all, it was a great time.

By the by, Molly mentioned Barbara Kingsolver books a while back and I second Molly's thoughts - Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors. Right now I am reading her latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It is about her and her family's experience spending one year eating only local food, food that they knew where it came from. So for, it has been real thought provoking... I think both of you would really like it if you haven't already checked it out.

We're Back!

Molly drove all the way back on Saturday, so I had lots of knitting time in the car... I've got the lace and eyelet finished my first panel. I mis-read the pattern - I didn't realize that the lace was suppposed to be done in a larger size needle than the stockinette part, so it is all going to be done in the same size needle. I hope that it still looks okay.



We had a nice time on our little road trip. Gulf Shores turned out to be not what we were expecting. There wasn't anything to do except sit on the beach,and it was cold and dogs weren't allowed on any of the beaches, so we decided not to stay. So we went to New Orleans instead. Neither of us had been there either, and we had fun just walking around and exploring. It is a very pretty city. Yesterday we went back to Nashville and I dropped Molly off at the airport early this morning. And now its back to work...

Our Very Own Knit Along!

Dear Jamie,
We wanted to write to keep you posted on our adventures in the south. Nothing too exciting yet...
Lots of Elvi in Nashville


You really aren't missing much, we didn't find anything that great in Nashville, although we did go to a yarn store - and neither of us bought ANYTHING! We did a little thrift-store shopping and got a few good deals, but thats it!

The whitewater festival was a bit of a drag. Not nearly as exciting as we had hoped. The playhole was lame, even from a laywoman's point of view, such as myself. Molly did get hit on twice, though, so that was pretty neat.


However, we have decided to do a little knit along of our own, and we want you to join if you're interested. We are going to make the 'laces and bows skirt' from the Knit Cafe book. It you don't have the book and don't want to buy it, I can copy the pattern and send it to you. There is a bunch of information about the skirt here (she refers to it as the daktari skirt). Since she had problems with the suggested yarn, we decided to try one of the substitutes she listed - we are using Jaeger trinity (its cheaper too). Molly chose a green color and mine is light blue.

Sooo.. if you're interested, let me know and I'll send you the pattern. Talk to you soon! ~Jill & Molly

Travel Thoughts

Hello & welcome Jamie! :) So I'm $200 pooerer but in exactly a month and a day, I'll be on a plane to the dirty south once again!! I'm excited and hopefully a week or two before when you know your schedule, Jill, we can figure out fun things to do. But if nothing else I'm excited to see Nashville at least! In other travel news we are trying to fundraise money for our Scotland trip. You'd think it would be easier since it is a school trip for credit, but we have a huge amout to make... any big money-making ideas??