Greetings

It's been a while since I last wrote, I know. I haven't been getting much done. I've been trying to correct my inability to get my homework done before the last minute. Which hasn't left much time for crafting, since I have a fairly long paper due this month, and it's not done... yeah, working on that.

Anyway, this last weekend I had some fun. I went to Golden to see Caitlin, who has been taking a technical spinning class. I brought my fancy wheel (Caitlin says we're supposed to name our wheels, so I'm calling her Tanya), and Caitlin gave me some samples of stuff that she had tried, and showed me the different techniques she had learned. I'm glad she took the class, I'd wanted to learn more about wheel spinning for a while now. It's pretty cool.

I also finished a pair of mitts. They're pretty wonderful, and I needed another set of dark, semi-plain mitts. Let's go with that as an excuse. 

I don't wanna hear it, Caitlin.

Finishing High

You know that feeling you get when you've finished a new project? The euphoria because it's so awesome that you're done and have a new object, and hey wouldn't it be great if you could finish some other stuff so that the feeling could continue?

Well, I have it. I've been doing kind of a purge on my WIPs. It's pretty cool. I finished my class knitting hat. That's my knitting during my academic classes, not a knitting class where the project is a hat.

Pretty, yes? It's the Pasha hat, in Honor. Absolutely gorgeous yarn, but I'm very partial to Lorna's Laces. And silk...

I also finished my novelty scarf. Just in time for Christmas! Which is lucky, because I need a present for a friend, like, right now. Two birds, one stone. Epic.

Admittedly, part of the purge has involved frogging. Those socks I was complaining about? I've consigned them to the frog pond because they have displeased me. Now I need to select a different stitch pattern and try again. You know, at some point in the future. Because I have many better things to knit! Including a thrummed hat and thrummed mittens. Which I may or may not have already cast on.

I'm so excited to be knocking down these WIPs! The melonstrosity finishing high should persist for a while longer, right? Cuz I can think of a bunch of things that I would like to work through...

A little Christmas present to myself

DO YOU SEE THAT?! That's the melonstrosity. I have finally killed it. I cast it off this afternoon, and wove in the ends, and tried to fold it up.

Do you know how heavy more than 40 skeins of Simply Soft knitted into a blanket is? Do you? Well, it's really *bleep*ing heavy. Like, really. Clearly, someone didn't think this plan through all that well.

Too late now! Now I'm going to love this blanket to bits. Because I invested several months of my life into it. And it's wonderful. I just need to find a place for it to live... hopefully somewhere with reinforced floors.

I now have the freedom to knit pretty much anything I want! And don't have to donate 2 hours every night in the hopes that someday I will be free of this blanket. Unfortunately, I'm still being dutiful. I have a hat that was a class project but now class is over, a cozy shawl that has been sadly neglected, a scarf made out of the new ruffle yarn that hasn't received my full attention because it's kind of difficult to knit with, a sweater that requires-wait for it- 3 charts, some socks that have fallen out of favor, and a lace shawl that I can't bear to look at because it's scary.

*Sigh* I guess it's back to the grindstone. Maybe I'll reward myself with some time on the spinning wheel before I slog away at those other projects, though...

Mission Accomplished

Look what I finished! Do you see those wonderful mitts? And the thumbs? The thumbs are amazing. Because I spent a great amount of time working on those freaking thumbs. Admire them. Thank you.

And now, I need something else to knit. I'm thinking I'll yank out the good old melonstrosity. Because it's been quite cold lately, and a blanket would be nice. 

Next time, remind me to show you what I've spun. It's very exciting.

I killed it myself

Guess what?

The Runcorn is done! I killed it myself. I finished all of the knitting on Wednesday night, and I finished the ends and buttons on Thursday morning. And then proceeded to wear it all day on Thursday, even though it was a little warm for a sweater. That's how proud of it I was. Isn't is gorgeous? It's got a few little quirks (because I'm sometimes an airhead), but I think I can live with them. For instance, the buttons are on the right hand side of the sweater and the buttonholes are on the left. While this is better than them both being on the same side, it is also opposite of what I expect when going to button a sweater. It's a little awkward. Also, I knit the ribbing for the collar on the size 8s, instead of the 6s, which is not how I did the edge ribbing for any of the other edges, but I think I'm ok with the way it looks. So there!

Funny story, though, I ordered the exact amount of yarn required for this sweater, and ended up with lots of extra main color, and a full skein of the green color left over. Must have been a marketing ploy. Guess I'll just have to store the leftovers until inspiration strikes.

This means that I am now free to focus on other projects that have been sadly neglected since I got sucked in to the black hole of knitting that was the Runcorn. Right now, I'm returning to the Cherie Amour sweater that I fell in love with not long ago. The only reason I abandoned this project was because I didn't want to lose the Runcorn into the terminal WIPs syndrome. This is not a problem I foresee for this Cherie, since it's knit in chunky yarn on size 13 needles. Pretty much excellent, even when you have to rip out 14 rows cuz you're pretty sure that you knit them wrong when you were drinking and stitching and watching "Tangled." Not that I'm admitting to any of that, of course.

Hopefully, the fact that I am no longer devoting all of my knitting energies to the Runcorn will mean that I have more interesting things to post about, and therefore more posts. Huffah!

These next two topics have nothing to do with knitting, but I think they're neat and relevant anyway. Some of you may know that it's fall, which is a wonderful season and has many things which I enjoy. Last weekend, my family decided to go do something we haven't done in years; go admire the changing aspen foliage.

Pretty, yes? I think so. Another of my favorite fall things is candy corn! And I finally made it to a Target store today to pick up the best kind of candy corn (less waxy tasting than the stuff you can get at the grocery store):

My inner child is delighted. I'm off to knit on something that is not a Runcorn!

Cravings

Do you know what I really wanted today? Sour Punch Straws. Any flavor would have done, really. I thought I would be able to find them at the 7-11 between where I was eating lunch and the place that I park for work. However, such was not the case. It was really very disappointing.

In order to cope with my disappointment and craving, I knit about 80% of a sock:

While I didn't actually finish the sock at work, enough of it was done that I didn't need to do much once I got home. Yay! So I've completed a pair. I'm not sure how I feel about them. They may need one or two repeats of the pattern to be removed. I worry that removing those repeats will make the top of the sock fit, but the bottom and heel of the sock be too short. Therefore, I've woven in the ends and am planning on wearing them around a little before I make a decision.

I also sent the invites for Shelby's bridal shower this afternoon! It was very exciting because, as I may have mentioned, I was getting a bit obsessive about them. I brought them to work with me, so I could finish writing things on the envelope and stamping the envelopes so they'd be as cute as possible. I posted a facebook status about being obsessive about "the invites," even. And apparently "invites" only means one thing to the facebook-verse: wedding invitations. I don't know why so many people assumed that it meant some portentous sort of invite, since it's not like I have a highly-active love life, but there you have it. This morning, I was forced to reassure several people that I wouldn't think of getting married in the near future. Ridiculous.

Also, it is finally time for you to meet Dj's scarf.

Nice colors, right? It's just a shame about having to carry the yarn up the side so much... you can see that on the edge of the scarf in the picture. I'm not sure what to do about that unattractiveness yet. Abby approves of the scarf, though. It's not done yet, although I bet I can finish it before the end of the day tomorrow. She put it on today and started making very satisfied noises about how cozy it is. She often has to go sit outside for long sporting events (Dj plays baseball. In Nebraska.), so she needs cozy clothing, and she prefers to steal that sort of clothing from her boyfriend. I suspect that she will get a lot more use out of this scarf than he will...

Anyway, that's all the knitting that's fit to print. And for those of you who are curious, I managed to find some Sour Punch Straws on my way home from work. Success!

Quickie

I just wanted to share with all 3 of you that I have finished a pair of fingerless gloves (fgs, for future reference). They're a lot prettier when they're on, but I like them, cuz they sparkle. They shouldn't have taken so long to make, but I had some starting issues. Turns out, items fit a lot better/look a lot better if you use the correct needle size. Lesson learned, next time I will double check my needles when I think the fabric looks a bit strange.