Knitting? What's that?

Well, the first week of grad school has been a little overwhelming, but I'm starting to make my way out from under the load. This week I had to do prepare and do lab reports for the 11 laboratory experiments that my students will do over the course of the term, grade 40 proficiency exams (and they take longer when the students miss things and you want to suggest the solution), attend my own classes, and remember to eat and sleep. I think there's knitting on the floor next to my desk.

I'll be at Borders today, but maybe only for a little while so that I can go back to the library to find some books I thought I had (intro physics and fluid mechanics) to do the "review" problem set for one of my classes. It's not so much review when I never had the material the first time! But this is what I signed up for and I knew it wouldn't be easy, so I just ignore the cute knitting and sit down with the books. I think I'll be chained to the desk until about May.

The other students are all pretty nice, and I'm not the oldest one, which makes me happy. ;) One of the oldest ones is in my division and we hang out a lot, and his wife knits and spins (yes!) and might come to Borders today, too.

Nancy, the fishies came from my mom at theknitter.com. They're not on the website, but I'm sure she'd bring the buttons over sometime if you want to see them. And mom, the next project is the jacket for Kelly's baby, which might get finished while she can still wear it. I hope. If I can do a couple hours every few weeks at Borders (and maybe during Friday TA meetings... hmm...), I'll make some progress.

Bedtime for me so that I can study tomorrow! Yay!

I'm not making it up

See, real knitting progress has occured. I'm not just writing stuff here to fill space.

The whole thing (it still needs pockets):

Cuff detail:

Fishie buttons! (It also gets side buttons, but I need to find something smaller):

We now return you to your regular school program...

Getting Ready for the First Day of School

I actually got a lot of knitting done during the last day of TA training, but I haven't taken pictures yet. I finished the front and back bodices of Tangerina and picked out some of the buttons, but I haven't had time to photograph it yet. I went hiking today and took a bazillion pictures, but I forgot to download them when I got home and it will take too long tonight.

I spent most of my weekend working on the sylabus I'll give to my students and on starting my lab prep. During the first week of classes I'll be doing all 11 labs that my students will do this semester. (Marta, you meant that you'd come over and help me out with my labs, right? Any afternoon this week, 3-5. ;) Some lab reports are due the same day, but most are due later. I'm trying to set a good example and do good prep, and reap the associated rewards. So that maybe next week I can knit. 'Cause it's not lookin' good for this week. ;)

I'll try to do better with some photos this week -- maybe tomorrow morning. I only think about it at bedtime and then it's too dark. I don't have to be at school until 11 tomorrow (11!!), so there should be ample opportunity for morning light.

Wet in the Rain

I rode home from school in a lovely Colorado afternoon thunderstorm. I was completely drenched by the end (well, long before the end), but it was worth it. It's still raining. Perfect weather for curling up with some nice yarn, but instead I needed to do some preparation for my "microteaching" of chemistry tomorrow. I finished that up, but no time to knit tonight.

I did get a little knitting done during the last few days, however. There have been some pretty boring little lectures (and some good ones, too!) which required minimal note-taking, so I've been working on the seed stitch jacket. I'm about ready to do whatever step 2 is, but I don't have the book, so I've had to ask mom to look it up for me. If there's too much shaping, I'll have to give it up during the talks, but for now it's been nice to have something to do with my hands. I'd like to work on Tangerina, but it's so much bulkier that I think it would be distracting during class/teaching. Especially since it's on two circs, it takes a lot more manipulation every half-row.

Maybe it's time to dig up some simple socks that just need stockinette! I don't want to start anything new right now, though, so I guess I'll just stick to my little seed stitch.

Sorry there's not a better update. I feel like school's kept me busy and there hasn't been interesting knitting for a while. But don't you worry; I'm still pluggin' along.

Busy busy weekend

Knitting, shopping, bookcase, hiking, baking, and old friends. That was my weekend. Can I go to sleep now?

I went to knitting in Longmont with my mom on Saturday and had a lovely time. I made a little progress on the Tangerina and did about an inch of baby moss stitch on those size 0's. It was nie to see some of the girls and I look forward to going back in two weeks. I really enjoy this group of women. Maybe if I'm feeling buff I'll try to ride my bike out there. Good thing I happen to follow the bus route, just in case I get tired. ;)

We did a little clothes shopping, then picked up my new bookcase and brought it home on the bus. A very nice guy helped us carry it from the bus to my apartment, and he was able to carry the whole thing on his head, even up the stairs, and we were really impressed. (No, I didn't get his number, but he knows the women two apartments down. I could probably get his number if you're really interested. ;) Got my bookcase put together eventually and now it's just waiting for books. I'll get another one when they have them in stock and will borrow my sister's truck to move it this time! That one will go in the living room and will have knitting books and kids books, and I guess I'll put all those boring novels and text books in the bedroom.

I hiked up to the Royal Arch with my apartment-mate, two people visiting her, and two other first-year chem students this morning and took in the incredible view of Boulder. I took a lot of photos and will try to get a few up this week. We'll see what kind of time I can squeak out of orientation week, but hopefully I can manage something. I've missed hiking and it's nice to be so close. I might go up to Rocky Mountain National Park or do a longer Boulder hike with the chem students next week -- last chance before the crush of school!

And finally, I made a loaf of banana bread to share with hold high school friends who came over this afternoon. I went over to one's house for dinner with them, their husbands, and a very cute but marginally cranky two-year old. He threw a small tantrum and his mother said, "Not so cute now, is he?"

I replied, "He's cute, because I get to go home!"

Hospital tour

Today I got to visit two Denver-area hospitals. My grandfather is in for his approximately annual bout of "we don't know what's wrong with you, only one of us thinks it's malaria and the rest think pancreatitis, even though you don't have pain, but we'll mess around for a couple weeks and then you can home" stint, and my best friend since we were babies had her first baby.

So my mom and I went to do visits. My grandfather seems to be doing ok, so we just sat and knit a while and chatted. It's not great fun to go there, but so far he hasn't been terribly sick when I've been there and it's not too bad.

Going to see the baby, though, was wonderful. She's beautiful, and I'm not usually one to like babies. She was just three days old, and I sat in the rocker and held her the whole time we were there. She just slept, stretching occasionally, and was so sweet. Her mama, Kelly, looks fabulous, though she's still a little drugged to handle the effects of the C-section. It was also good to see her parents, who I last saw at her wedding just over a year ago, and we went to lunch with her mother. Our mothers have been friends since they worked at the same bakery in their early 20s. I got to hear about my mom moving in with Margee, not exactly telling her parents and just leaving a note; the first time Margee took my mom to see a horror movie at the drive-in; and about how "that Danner girl" was such a bad influence, until my mom wanted to marry a guy with three kids, and my grandparents wanted to know why she couldn't be "sensible" like Margee. (My parents have now been happily married for 23 years, in case you were worried.)

The baby was just 6 lb 14 oz when she was born, but she's lost some weight and is now 6 lb 1 oz. Everyone said how tiny she was, but she seemed just the right size to me. I decided she needed something knit, and soon! The old project I'd had in mind for her seemed too cutesy (the puppy-dog jacket and hat from... shoot, that book's not unpacked yet), so I went looking for something else. My mom recommended a moss stitch jacket with embroidered flowers on the neck and cuffs that Kelly's mom had thought about making, so I grabbed some yarn and a set of needles, did a mini-swatch, and cast on. Once again, I'm doing seed stitch on size 0's, but at least it's for a baby so it should go a lot faster than Mist. I still like the rhythm of the K1, P1, so I think it will be enjoyable. Hopefully I'll also like making lazy daisy flowers.

My stuff is mostly unpacked, except for the books, the yarn, and some miscellaneous items. I'm hoping to pick up new bookshelves tomorrow, and then I just have to find a place for the yarn. Doing some laundry wouldn't hurt, either! It's slowly coming together, and I'm looking forward to getting the feel for the kitchen and enjoying the whole setup. I made bread on Wednesday night and it felt good to be cooking with my own stuff.

(I have good kitchen stuff. I have nice kitchen stuff. I like my good and nice stuff, and I enjoy working with my familiar tools. For some unbeknownst reason, my roommate really wants to use her own dishes and pots and pans. I don't understand why, when my stuff is nicer and better, but I guess I'll learn to live with it. It seems to me that using aluminum cookware when Calphalon is available is a little like going for baby acrylic when you could use a nice superwash wool. Maybe she's just never had wool and doesn't know how good it is.)

Thanks for the comments on the last entry. I'm glad to be back and blogging, and I'm especially happy that I'm back in Colorado, even if it means it's convenient for me to go visit a sick grandparent in the hospital. Sundae is mostly happy with the house, but she misses having a high place to go and she wants to go outside.

I miss Boston people (come visit me here!), but not most of the rest of Boston. :) I have $105 credit at Woolcott. I wonder if I should save it for a spree the next time I go back, or try to sell it to someone before I misplace it and it's lost forever.

And Marta, we'll definitely be at Borders, uh, today, and we're almost always there until 2, so feel free to show up when it works out for you. :)

Other random stuff that didn't seem to fit anywhere else: I can bike 12 miles in a day (parents' house and back) and not be exhausted or sore. I was thinking of biking about 12 miles to Borders, uh, today, but now that it's so late, I'll save that as a lofty goal for two weeks from now. ;) An old friend from high school has an adorable 2-year-old son, and I think I might even try intarsia to make him a really cute pirate sweater. Hopefully I'll get to do knitting for me again soon!

I have stuff!

And then, unpacking set in. Unfortunately, yarn isn't the first priority. I need to deal with furniture and kitchen stuff first, and then I really should work on getting most of those boxes into my bedroom, and then I can play with yarn.

So I'd better get to work!

(Jaimi: It's good to have confirmation of problems with the Shapely pattern. I'll let you know how it's worked out, when I find out whether I have another ball of yarn!

Emma: I'm glad to be getting settled, thanks! I slept in a bed last night! Yay!)

Updates from the last month

Started this entry once and lost it (hit the "back" button by mistake), so hopefully I'll do better this time...

First, the Segue ribbon tank top. I finished this in mid-July, and there's a picture of it on the knitsmiths page. It's a fun, light tank and I enjoy wearing it, though it feels a little dressy for everyday wear. I did wear it to my 10-year high school reunion this weekend, and enjoyed having it at An Event. I didn't get any compliments on it, but I think that's because people were genuinely surpirsed at my appearance. I used to have hair down to my lower back, didn't wear glasses, and weighed 15-20 pounds more than I do now. (Here are some of my ID photos, for a little perspective.) There was one woman who told me she knits -- she teaches English at our high school -- and I invited her to the group in Longmont, and I hope she'll show up.

Going down the sidebar, High Tide has only progressed modestly since I left Boston. I worked the back up to the first color change, but I haven't picked it up in a while. It doesn't need a lot of attention, but swapping out strands of tencel every row or two feels too tedious to work on right now. Hopefully I'll come back to this soon.

Lisa's dance camp socks are also on hold. I didn't have time to arrange a fitting before I left, so I'll have to mail the first one back to find out whether it's right. I also have to redo the toe graft, because I tried to kitchner it without any instructions and I did a horrible job. Maybe I'll do that soon, too...

I've actually made good progress on my doily. The spiral is complete and I've started the fancy edging section, but now I'm where the row instructions take up two lines of type, and I can only work on this when I can concentrate very carefully. With orientation and school about to start, I'm not sure when I'll find that kind of time, but maybe I'll be able to squeeze some in.

Several things haven't made it onto the sidebar at all. I did the front and part of the back of the Shapely Tank in South West Trading Company's Beyond Cotton. This somewhat nubby yarn gives the tank a little bit of texture, which I find very appealing. I had to stop on the back because I ran out of yarn. And now of course I can't remember whether there's one more ball in the stash (not yet delivered to my apartment!) or whether I'm short one and I'll need to order another. I'm looking forward to finishing this and getting to wear it, though. I made one alteration on the bust short-row shaping, however. When my mom made the tank, she followed the instructions as given and got puckers under the arms because the short-rows are just 3 stitches from the edges. She felt they'd be better placed a little further in, closer to where the bust is. I set mine in 9 stitches on each side, and we'll see how that turns out. A small probelm with the pattern is that the short rows for the bust should probably go about an inch below the armhole bindoff (as shown in the schematic), but the instructions direct you to put them in just before binding off for the armholes. My mom suggested moving them lower, but for now I'll leave them where they are and see how it fits. If I decide I need to lower them, I can rip the front down to the armholes and try again, and adjust the short-row placement if I have to.

After that little yarn crisis, I started another project. This is a jumper for a baby, from the cover of Minnow Knits. I have just this pattern, not the book, and I've wanted to make it for someone for a long time. Before I left Boston, I saw friends I hadn't seen in a while and met their incredibly cute, 7-month old son. He smiled when I made faces at him, and that earned him this outfit. I got some more boyish colors at Circles (love this butterfly cotton!) and started to knit when I arrived in Denver. The gold on the cuff will be the color for the front bodice of the jumper and the back will be the light blue. I plan to make the button flaps longer and put on an extra button or two so that hopefully this can be worn for a while. I have three more inches to do before I reach the bodice.

My youngest niece's first birthday party was this weekend, and I decided to knit her something, so I spent the last week making her a bear from the Debbie Bliss Teddy Bears book. I forgot to take a picture of the bear, but since they live nearby, I should have another opportunity. He/she didn't get clothes yet, but I plan to make a little dress, so I guess it will be a girl. I plan to make the dress from the remains of some yarn that I kool-aid dyed and my mom made into socks for me. There should be enough to make the skirt, and I may finish with a plain white bodice if I run out of the old yarn. I'm going to do the skirt in the Peasant Ruffle from Knitting on the Edge, and the bodice will be plain stockinette. Maybe that will be for Christmas...

I think that catches me up to the present. I've knit a lot in the last several weeks. It's been fabulous to have such a long vacation without very many responsibilities. My stuff will finally arrive tomorrow (yay!) and then I'll have the stash of yarn, my books, and a comfy couch to sit and knit on. The rest of the stuff is somewhat incidental. ;)

Oh blog, I have neglected you so!

I've made it Colorado and I've been here a few weeks, and now that I finally have my computer hooked up to the 'net, I feel like I can blog again. I don't know why I had such a block about doing it from my parents' house, or my brother's house, but that's just the way it was.

I'm too tired tonight to play with pictures, but I'll try to do some of that in the morning. I've moved into my apartment, but my stuff has been delayed until Tuesday, which is rather disappointing. I would like to have the bed, the couch, the pot and pans, and the rest of the yarn! I've done ok since I've been here, though. I can go to my parents' house and use their couch, their kitchen (I have an open invitation to cook them dinner), and borrow my mom's needles, so it's worked out. I bought a bike and have ridden around a reasonable amount, and I seem to be fit enough to pull this off for a while, so the bike will be my commuting plan for the forseeable future. Maybe someday I'll develop biker calves.

It's great to be back here and I'm really happy. I've done a little hiking, a lot of knitting with old and new knitting friends, some reading, spent some time with my nieces, and watched fabulous thunderstorms. What more could anyone want?

Well, a bed, a couch, the rest of the yarn, and pictures of knitting. We'll get one tomorrow, and the rest on Tuesday, I hope.