Back from the abyss (aka school)

To say it’s been a busy few weeks in my world would be a gross understatement. It would be more accurate to say it has been manic. This morning I wrote what I hope was my last final ever. I hope I hope. Finally (as my mother loves to say). It has been a bit trying, attempting to juggle career and full time school and a new relationship (yea, my timing on that one was brilliant). There have been more than a few moments when I have doubted my ability to accomplish everything that needs accomplishing.

Naturally that means there’s been a dearth of knitting. I’ve managed a few rows here and there on Hanami so that I am now about a third of the way through Chart D. I stopped trying to work on Hanami though when it because apparent that I was actually knitting about 3-4 rows for every row of actual progress. Instead I’m working on a couple of koolhaas’s out of Malabrigo. I’m figuring out how to cable without a cable needle which is also good Olympic training.

Yea, since the Olympics conveniently start the day after finals are over, I’ve decided to compete in the Ravelympics for Team Canada. I am competing in the Sweater Sprint and will be making a Central Park Hoodie. The cabling without a cable needle practice will hopefully speed things up. I’m knitting it out of some blue Cascade 220 that I bought a few months ago. And now I am itching to start.

Something came home to live with me last night. A Louet S15 spinning wheel, purchased from a fellow local Raveler. I am calling this my graduation present to myself. I haven’t had time to really sit down and get to know the ins and outs of her yet but I managed to spin something that resembles yarn. I can’t wait to have more time to really practice. I think I might take a class at Birkland bros in September, now that my evenings aren’t so occupied with school.

Pictures to be added later since I am not at home. I wanted to get this up before the Olympics start. I have swatched, gotten gauge and am ready to start.

Back from the land of no Internet

I spent the last two weeks in Emma Lake Saskatchewan for a family reunion. My grandpa turned 80 so for the first time in 16 years the whole family got together. Surprisingly, the only absentee was my sister.

I thought I was going to get a ton of knitting done lounging by the lake but it turns out it's hard to get personal time when there are 19 other people around and a party for 48 to plan for. I think I managed two to three rounds of sock and that's it. Poor knitting, you have been sorely neglected. I got my first SP12 package the day before we left. My pal went with a knitting around the world theme so this package is knitting in the UK. I love getting yarn in the mail.

It was a good trip though and it was nice seeing my family again. It's strange seeing my "little" cousins as teenagers. They even called me old! Geesh. One day it will be their turn.

And now it is mid-July which means I have a term paper to write and exams to start thinking about. So it looks like knitting will continue to take the back burner for a bit.

Ribbit ribbit ribbit

Secret Pal Question of the Week # 3 answer

What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

I’m pretty happy with my stash as it stands. I have enough that if I for some reason couldn’t buy yarn for a good while I would still have plenty of things to knit but it still only takes up one bookcase. I still know everything that’s in there and have a good idea what I intend to do with it. Not that that means I’m not still buying yarn…

It’s been a tense few weeks. First I had two midterms and a nasty final and then a series of small assignments for Japanese. Now it’s into term paper/project time. I doesn’t help that I am going to be away for ten days with limited Internet access. Ugh. I’ve been grouchy since Monday. I can’t figure out how I can be more stressed out and irritable after midterms are over than I am while they’re happening. Oh well, hopefully I’ll never write midterms again.

Maybe that’s why I’ve been on a frogging spree lately, to ease a bit of ‘burden.’ I hate leaving things unfinished and I have had a few projects that have sort of been languishing. I realized I was getting less and less likely to finish them in their current configuration so rip rip rip. It’s kind of liberating to free all that yarn from the confines of a project and breathe new life into it. Now it is full of potential again.

What's that bright shiny thing in the sky?

The sun is finally shining in Vancouver. Spring/summer sure have been slow out of the gate this year. The warm weather arrived just in time for WWKIP day (Worldwide Knit in Public Day on the off chance there are any non-knitters floating around this blog). There were a number of events hosted in the Vancouver area and I wish I could have attended them all. I went to the Kits event and sat on the grass knitting in the sun for a couple of hours. It was fun, particularly since it meant pulling out my knitting for the first time in a week. Sigh.

I’m just about done Chart C now so it’s coming along, just a lot more slowly than it was. I love it more and more as it progresses. It’s going to be so nice to finally wear it. One of the great things about wear I am in the pattern now is that it’s very forgiving. If I put a “cherry blossom” 5 stitches from the start of the repeat instead of 8, it’s not going to matter. After 7 repeats of the very unforgiving basket weave chart this is most welcome. Well, I’m driving to Saskatchewan with my family in a couple weeks so I should have lots of time to knit then.

I saw Twelfth Night at Bard on the Beach last night. Every year I say I’m going to go and I never do so it was nice to finally go. I highly recommend this interpretation of Twelfth Night. It’s got a lot of slapstick comedy in it that is very well done. We ended up with really great seats by sheer fluke. They recommend you get there pretty early to save your seat so we planned to have an early dinner. I guess we lost track of time because next thing we knew it was 6:30 and we hadn’t left the restaurant. Oops. We got to Bard just as they were giving the three minute warning and unfortunately, there were no seats left together. (As an aside, surely there is a way of managing this issue but it always seems to be a problem). That was disappointing but just before the show was to start the usher showed us to some sponsor seats that hadn’t been claimed. They ended up being some of the best seats in the house. Mind you, I’d still recommend arriving a little sooner than 3 minutes before the curtain.

Secret Pal Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely not like? I love all natural fibers, particularly animal fibers and silk. I don’t have any particular favourite yarns but I really enjoy trying yarns I can’t easily get in Canada.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? a shoebox lol
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I’ve only been knitting since October 2007 but I take the concept of fearless knitting to extremes so I knit intermediate to advanced patterns
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No.
5. What’s your favorite scent? Any fruity scent, lavender, vanilla
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? I try to combat my sweet tooth. My weakness is chocolate and skittles
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I am learning to spin and hope to acquire a wheel soon
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) LOL I have to admit I really hate this question, so much so that I am writing a term paper on it. I don’t like any particular kind of music so feel free to introduce me to new stuff
9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand? I love colour. I especially like deeply saturated colours like dark purples, burgundies, dark blues. The only colours I don’t like are orange, yellow and bright red
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I have a cat
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I don’t wear ponchos but I wear everything else
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? All of it. I knit a lot of socks and shawls, hoping to start my first real sweater soon
13. What are you knitting right now? Hanami
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Love it!
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I mostly knit with circs or DPNs. I don’t have a preference between wood and metal. I love my harmony interchangeables and my small but growing collection of Addis.
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, both
17. How old is your oldest UFO? I don’t have any
18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Easter. Wait, does my birthday count? lol
19. Is there anything that you collect? Other than yarn? Postcards and souvenir pins
20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Hmmm. I’d love more back issues of Interweave. My Ravelry library is up to date on what I have. I would also like to have more knitting notions like stitch markers
21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn? Fair isle and magic loop
22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Definitely! I am a women’s 7. Most women’s medium sock patterns fit me well
23. When is your birthday? May 3
24. What’s your Ravelry ID? Megknitficent

Back on the blogging wagon... for now

So I apologize for my absence. My very hectic schedule has left me little time for knitting and even less time for blogging about it.

I'm still plugging along on Hanami... slowly. I am about halfway through Chart C of the cherry blossom half. Boy is it ever a relief to be out of the basketweave section. This part is a great deal more forgiving. I am loving how the yarn and pattern are working together. I think it will be really stunning once complete. My intention is to wear it to my grand graduation celebration in October.

Speaking of, I applied to graduate this week which is oddly exciting. Even though I still have a very demanding semester to get through before anything is official it felt good to do it. Like saying hey, I really am almost done. There is a light at the end of all this.

Classes are going all right. I love one of them, it's all about music and I'm actually really looking forward to starting the paper for it. (Someone please remind me of this when it's 3 days before it's due and I'm in full school-induced-psychosis). The other two aren't as great but I'll survive.

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I am posting from school right now while I wait for class to start.

I promise more interesting posts sometime in the near future... I hope.

Happy Birthday to me

I turned 26 today. Yay. Guess what my parents got me...

A swift! Since this is a knitting blog you all understand why this is a great gift. It's a nice wooden one too because it's all they had. Actually, my mom had to buy the store model because the order wasn't coming in for another two weeks.

I haven't done much knitting the last few days because I've been too busy. I babysat my friend's kids on Thursday, they're 5 and 1. I can't believe how big the baby has gotten. Time really does fly doesn't it?

I'm up to the fifth repeat of the basketweave pattern on Hanami. I'm really liking this pattern. I haven't memorized the chart so I have to pay more attention and make fewer mistakes. I've only had to rip back once. Still, I'll be glad when I get through this section and move on to the cherry blossom part. I probably won't be doing much knitting this weekend though because I have a friend coming over and then I'm going out for my birthday. Tomorrow is the first birthday of my friend's baby. As for next week... classes start. Eep.