I've been seriously lacking in the knitting department. Luckily, Joanna, Kathleen, and Jen are bringing me up to speed. They are knitting machines! Hat machines, no less! Last week, Joanna and I went to Kathleen's house to knit, and today, the four of us knit at Joanna's (and ate her amazing eggplant parm). So much fun! Here are the pictures I took. (Yes, I actually remembered my camera!)

Pictures, Finally!

My knack for making things way too complicated has manifested itself once more. I finally made it to the Verizon store today. I needed no special device. All I had to do was email the damn thing to myself. Which is, I soon learned, indeed possible. This could have come in handy years ago. I'm a failure to my generation!

Anyway, here are the pics from our knitting excursion last week:

:)

A big shoutout to Jen, Kathleen, and Joanna! Last night, we went to Cafe Lalo (of "You've Got Mail" fame) and I taught them to knit (well, re-taught Jen and Joanna.) It was so much fun, and I'm so excited that I now have more people to read this bad boy (err, knitting blog.) My "students" were awesome. We are totally going to do it again.

Of course, my camera was at Sam's place, so I only had my phone for pictures. I took some good ones, but now I can't figure out how to get them onto my computer. (I have a trip to the Verizon store pencilled in for tomorrow evening.)

There was a mother and her son at the next table over who kept watching us. The mother was very proud of the boy, who much have been about seven, who knits. I think that's pretty awesome. At one point, they came over to our table to watch me knit a hat with five needles. I tried to explain it to them - I hope my instructions were clear enough.

So I didn't get to that knitting group on Monday. On Sunday, I ran Central Park and then went over to Amna's place. I casted on her scarf for her and we knit together for a while. But when I got up in the morning, I was exhausted. I guess the run had caught up with me.

Knitting and crafting has sort of been put on hold since then. I haven't really been doing anything special though -- maybe I've just been tired. Tonight Sam has a gig, so I won't be knitting/crafting then either. Oh well. I'm really looking forward to this one (not that I don't look forward to all of them.)

Not this Monday, but the Monday after that, I'm going to have a knitting circle, which will consist of me teaching Jen and two of her friends to knit. I am really excited about it and so are they - which makes me look forward to it even more. :)

I've been working on some beaded artwork and beaded cards lately. Of course, I haven't finished anything yet. When I do, I'll put some of it up here. But since this isn't knitting or crochet, I'd like my first pictures to be of the finished product. I guess this can be more of a craft blog than just a knitting blog. After all, I do write about crochet sometimes.

And I have still been knitting. I finished much, though. I designed a headband, based loosely off of the Interweave headband I made (twice) last fall. I want to knit or crochet a flower for it. And I still have to weave in the ends. So technically it isn't done. At all. And I finished a basic mohair hat a few weeks ago. Again, still gotta weave in the ends. As of now, I started another basic hat to sell, and I'm still working on the one I started on the way to Bryn Mawr. I'm at Sam's house now, and we're back on our Sopranos binge. So I started the new hat while watching Sopranos. I didn't want to bring all those tiny beads over here, and I wanted to do something with my hands and something productive.

Tomorrow, I might go to a new knitting group. It's in Brooklyn, and they're having cocktails and apparently, according to what they're put on the internet, it's somewhat radical. Sounds kind of like Phillyknitters and Fiber Nite. I still miss those guys. Amna might come, depending on her work schedule. I'm kind of nervous to meet new people, but I think it will be really fun.
And I want to make some knitting friends. Sam's friend, Jen, and her friends might come over this week and I can teach them to knit, and that will be really fun, but we'll see if that actually happens (I hope it does!)

Woe is Being Twenty-Three

When I was sixteen, I went to France for three weeks on a school trip. I brought along a journal, good friends, and an open mind. I was determined to find myself on that trip.

Did I find myself? Not so much. I did, however, find a taste for art museums and bowls of hot chocolate.

Now that I've been a human being for a little bit longer, I've realized that behind all of the life changes I have gone through and will go through in the future, there are a few qualities that make up the base of me. Such as my love for all kinds of arts and crafts. Such as my appreciation for all things hand made, and the work, the stories, that went into thing. Such as my tendency to develope multiple hobbies, usually the same kinds of things (arts and crafts and solitary sports), take them to higher levels (or at least plan on it), but to get so overstimulated that it takes me a really long time to accomplish anything. Current example below.

So I would really like some extra cash. So I'm trying to start an arts and crafts business. Without giving too much away (more to sound mysterious than anything else), this involves selling dozens of pieces of beaded jewelry that I made as a teenager for precisely this purpose, knitted accessories, and some other crafts that will be revealed in good time (again, I'm just trying to sound mysterious, but strangely sounding like an asshole. Oh well.) At staff appreciation day at work, each staff member was given a $25 gift card to Barnes & Nobel. Today I went there after work to try to find a book of crocheted flowers. I didn't find one, but I did find myself a nice little book of Sexy Little Knits. The book is amazing, and it is stuff I can actually see myself making and wearing. I want to make many of the things in that book. So I have to fit this into my schedule too. And on top of that, I have to keep going to the gym and cooking for myself so I can actually wear these things. And have a full time job. And a social life (well, at least Sam). And at least look like I'm making an effort to keep my apartment, and my clothes, clean.

All this because Sam wanted to save money and lose weight. I sort of needed to too, and we decided that it would be fun if we did it together, which we are. But then I have to go out and get all these crazy ideas. But let's face it, that's just how I am.

I stole this one from Anna

I think it's the coolest thing ever because I am a huge knitting dork. I'd like to point out that I've never done one of these things as a myspace bulletin or on my blog when I used to update it. But this unites knitting with dorkiness and that's just cool. For a knitting dork anyway.

Mark with bold the things you have knit (or are knitting)/crocheting, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments (I don't think hats, headbands, other accessories count...)
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items
Knitting socks on one or two circulars
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living (Yeah, let's make it a plan! I'd love to, anyway)
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener stitch
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine (how about knitting an online pattern from a knitting magazine?)
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

So apparently, not only am I very ambicious, I also don't know what a few of these things mean. Oh well, I guess I'm not planning to do them.

Why I Love I-Cords

Back in the day, kids used to make pot holders out of circular strips of nylon. We would stretch them over a hollow loom and weave them in and out of each other. Even more dated to the 80s (and early 90's), even brighter neon strips of nylon would come in bags. You would buy the bags and weave the nylon around your fingers. You would twist one round strip, then another. Then you would pull the bottom strip over each finger, add another strip, and do the same to the second, etc., etc. Lots of kids liked to have them over the backs of their hands, but I, being the weird - err...artsy?? kid that I was, I liked to have them over the palm of my hand. To feel my tactile creation. Sometimes, if we didn't have neon nylon strips, we would just use yarn.

And that is just what I-cords are! (Well, they would be, if we only had three fingers.) And that is why I love them.

knitting at the crack of dawn

yes, it's come to that. it's the only way i can be productive. i got up at 6:15 monday morning to knit. the plan was to make that a routine. 6:15 every day and either go to the gym or knit (sometimes i have to be at work early, but even then i don't have to leave until 8:00.

that plan lasted all of one day. by monday afternoon, i was exhausted, i had a headache, and my finger hurt. (the former two were knitting-related, but i don't know what happened to my finger. it still hurts, though.)

maybe i actually will get my act together, but i've realized that i need to be more creative in order to make it work. i can't just sit there and knit hats without being in some sort of in depth coversation/activity, and i don't have a television. so perhaps i will make fewer items but they will be more unique. i really think i can do this. i just have to take all these little goals one step at a time. i just got my credit card bill and it was way better than last month. and i've finally begun to cook more and to cook extra so i can bring lunch to work. sam is trying to do the same, and that's helping a lot. team work!

oh. and remember that image that refused to upload onto my computer last week? here it is!

Still no new material progress in the way of product. But I have a couple of business ideas/endeavors in the works. For now, though, I won't jinx anything by mentioning them here.

Went to P&O Fabrics on the Lower East Side today. Got Lion brand stuff in bulk and on sale. Other cheap (for NYC) yarn too. New stash includes:

Red Heart Light and Lofty
Lion Brand Color Waves
Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair
Patons Brilliant (in black and in gold)

The first three will probably be for hats. The Patons will be for making headbands. It has little threads of sparkles in it. Trendy and pretty.

***photo to come...my computer is acting up again***

Unfortunately, I have no new photos to show you just now. But I promise, there will be more to come! I'll make up for this current dry spell, I swear!

And then there was this whole business with my blog. For some reason, I couldn't log in. It was weird. I was convinced that either someone had hacked into my blog (why on earth someone would do that, I have no idea) or that it or my computer was possessed. Turns out I'm just retahhhded.

The past two weeks have not been very productive on the knitting front. My dad was here and then when Sam got back I wanted to spend a lot of time with him and then I went to May Day. Good old Bryn Mawr. Didn't think I'd be back so soon, but my friends convinced me. I'm glad I went, though. It was great seeing everyone again. A lot of people from my class were there. It was awesome seeing them again, and being at May Day without exams looming is a whole experience unto itself. I was very ambitious when I packed. I brought that same gauntlet I've been working on forever and the yarn to start my blue hat just in case I finished that. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the fourth needle for the gauntlet, so I just ended up starting the hat on the bus. I had to stop after an hour or so, though, because it was giving me motion sickness. And the way back? Forget it! I was simultaneously drunk and hungover. It was difficult enough just to fumble out sentences. Luckily, Amna and Rohini came back on the train, bus, and subway with me!

Every time I look at my bank statements, I once again remember how freakin' expensive this city is. I could move, but quite frankly, I don't want to. Instead, I've been thinking about somehow capitalizing off of my craftiness. On an unrelated note, last week, I enquired about volunteering to teach an arts and crafts class at a senior center. But like every other regular volunteering opportunity (it seems) I can't do it because I work during weekdays. However, this did get me thinking. I may not be the most experienced knitter, but I do know a lot about crafts. I can knit, crochet, needlepoint, bead, and cross-stitch. And I have basic sewing skills. And then there are those awesome projects from Summer camp and the ones my mom taught me when I was little - like worry dolls, friendship bracelets, and decorative hairclips. It would be awesome to be able to teach this stuff to people. Before I started school, my mom sent me to a class at this lady's house where I made awesome things like edible sculptures. If only I had a house. Or if I could find some way to sell stuff. When I was a teenager, I used to sell beaded jewelry at markets. But I don't think I made a total profit over twenty bucks. Still, it's a thought...

On Second Thought...

Seeing as I live alone and don't have a working television, maybe I should start something harder.

...and again

This is the sort of thing I should do while doing something else (talking to people or watching TV). Because...I'm done with my mom's hat! (Such a huge reward for so little time!)

I seem to only give gifts to people who do not like to post their pictures on this blog. (My fear of random internet pictures ended with facebook and myspace.) I have a feeling my mom will be no different from my sister or Amna (although Amna promised she would one day pose with her hat). I would take a picture of myself wearing the hat, but I feel like doing that too many times would be kind of lame. So I won't...this time. Once again, my wooden floor will have to be the background.

So this hat business is a lot quicker than I thought. I don't know why I was so intimidated before, or why hats took me so long to make. (Perhaps it was the fact that I was using a pattern with cables?)

After about an hour and a half on Tuesday (combined with the time I spent on it at Amna's) I'm already decreasing. I will be done in no time!

I probably won't get to it today because I want to go to Barnes & Noble to spend the gift card I got for "Staff Appreciation Day" and then I have to clean my apartment again. (I don't know why I bother, it never stays that way for more than a day) and then my friend, Flora, is coming all the way from Philly to stay with me! (OK, not just to stay with me, but she's staying with me! Yay!)

Do I sometimes sound like a five-year-old? Alas, I will always be a five-year-old at heart.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. The weekend was beautiful, and I decided to walk from my apartment to Knit New York at Union Square. I wanted to start really checking out the knitting scene, and I also wanted to walk for a really long time and soak up the sunshine.

Two summers ago, I lived in New York for six weeks in the dorms at Columbia (I took a summer class there). I spent many days walking down Broadway. Often, my destination was School Products Co., but that place is closed on Sundays. But that was a lot of fun, and I want to start doing things like that again.

Having a day to myself is always nice. I decided to take Broadway all the way down, for old times' sake. I stopped along the way for a hot dog, water, an iced chai latte, and new mascara. Then I finally reached Knit New York, a knitting store and cafe all in one. Brilliant. I found some bulky pale pink yarn for my mom's birthday hat (Laines Du NordSorftlight) and a cool blue for my own (Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed). Unfortunately I have chosen the worst time of the year to go on my hat kick. At least it's autumn in Sydney (Aussies never say "fall"), so my mom will get use out of her hat right away. Ah well. Such is life.

I bought a corn muffin (just as Sam called from Denmark, which made the day even better!) and ate it while I knit my swatch (I've finally begun to make a habit of this, and not nearly soon enough).

I didn't stay long, probably because nothing compares to my old turf in philly, but then Amna came down and met me and we went out for yummy yummy sushi. And we went back to her place and I started my mom's hat. My mom's birthday is May 17 but I have to finish it a little early if I'm going to mail it to her. Thank god for bulky yarn and big needles.

The Case of the Missing Stitch

Adina was her name. She was a knitting detective. She studied it, and she solved problems. (Kind of like those people on Square One, remember that kids' TV show "Math Net" in the early '90s? I LOVED that.)

Detective Adina's one problem was that she couldn't go far without her knitting. It wasn't that she had to knit everywhere she went, but knowing that she could knit if she had to, that forced her to take her knitting needles and unfinished project, everywhere with her.

One week, a pair of unfinished gauntlets came with her to her boyfriend's house, to work, and back home, twice. She was sure that the yarn would slip off of the needles in transit, yet she insisted on transporting the project in a plastic Duane Reade bag.

When she finally decided to knit for real, in the comfort of her own home, she carefully opened the bag to find that the project was still on the needles, safe and sound. She checked to see if any of the stitches had fallen off the needles, but could not find any stragglers. With a sigh of relief, she picked up the unfinished gauntlet and began to knit.

She knit and knit. Until the pattern told her to change her stitches to a ribbed cuff. She had almost finished one round, when she realized that she did not have enough stitches! Shock! Horror! What had happened to that stitch she had so precisely counted all those months ago?? Gone! Where could it be?

Painstakingly, she examined the gauntlet. There, where she had begun that very day, was a stitch that was somehow twisted onto the stitch next to it. It was not k2tog, and to this day, how this happened is a mystery. But the problem was there. Detective Adina, of knitstripedfrom as she was known in the industry, had to fix her own gauntlet.

What was she to do? She had two choices. She could deviate from the pattern, leaving a mistake invisible to the untrained eye, but two gauntlets that were slightly different in pattern, or she could attempt to create new stitches all the way up the row. And that is just what she did. Using her needles, after five minutes of sweat and horror, she finally had the correct number of stitches.

But wait! The pattern called for purl stitches, and she had just made knit stitches! Panicked, she did the unthinkable -- she undid the row of stitches. Picking up the stitches was a task was much too dangerous for meer knitting needles. It needed a crochet hook!!! Slowly, she began the task of picking the the stitches again. But wait! She was somehow back to having too few stitches on the needles. And worse, she couldn't find the mistake.

Exhausted, she decided to break for the night. To cool off, she went to a bar with her friend, Dori.

In the morning, just as she had expected, everything was much clearer. Apparently, the row of stitches had become a ladder until very near to the bottom of the gauntlet. Detective Adina had no choice but to pick up the stitches, row by row, again. But wait! No matter how she tried, the stitches always came out knit instead of purl! In desperation, she turned the gauntlet INSIDE OUT and used her crochet hook to "knit up" that way.

Finally, the mission was a success. Detective Adina put the last stitch back on the needle and, smiling, continued the ribbed cuff.

The end.

OK, Scrap That.

I spoke too soon. Today I was able to upload those images. :-P

This and That

so my computer is kind of dying. it's very slow, and although i can download pictures, i can't get them up on my blog. so although i have a picture of amna's hat, i can't put it up yet. sorry! (don't be surprised if old entries suddenly accumulate pictures.)

the other matter of knitting business is that sam (my boyfriend) is visiting his parents and brother in europe for ten days. so although i miss him, i have a short window of time to focus much more energy on my knitting! i'm still working on the gauntlets that i started a couple of months ago. it's been an on and off affair.

and i haven't forgotten my dad's sweater! i finally bought the yarn for it! the problem is that my father is extremely allergis to wool. a lot of knitters think that most wool allergies are actually people mistaking skin irritations caused by the courseness of wool for allergies. not so with my dad. he can't go near the stuff. so i went to school products co. and found some nice (non-returnable) cotton. i thought i was buying grey, but in better light, it looks brown. for some reason or another, my dad absolutely hates the color brown. but i can't return this and there's no way i'm not going to use it - not at that price! so he'll have to like it simply because i made it.

Triumph!

Amna's hat is done! It did not take nearly as long to make as I thought it would. Maybe it's because I'm not at Bryn Mawr anymore, so I don't have the "every minute I knit is a minute I don't study... unless it's for my thesis" mentality. Probably it's because I used bulky yarn, size 10.5 needles, and I didn't use cables as I did in my last three hats (excluding the one that ended up beyond repair). And there weren't any cables involved.

But still! My first non-square for which I didn't use a pattern!

I have a day off from work today. This makes me happy. Also, I don't have to work this weekend. That gives me three times as many full weekend days as I had the past two weeks. :)

So I'm falling back into love with knitting. I started Amna's hat last night. It's the first non-scarf I've made without a pattern. I'm getting help from Yarn Harlot's "Knitting Rules!" but it's not a pattern as such. This no-pattern business is very exciting. I'm beginning to design hats in my head as I knit. And I'm using Lamb's Pride, so the wool feels wonderful in my hands. Amna's very belated birthday present should be done in no time! Then I have to make the sweater that three years ago I promised my dad I would make him for his 50th birthday -- by December. And I have to make my aunt a scarf. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make the sweater out of lamb's pride, because my dad is so allergic to wool that he can't touch it at all. But I guess if I have to find some special yarn, New York is the place to do it.

Last week, I revisited my field notes. In some weird, ironic way, my thesis was the only thing that kept me going during my senior year of hell. I really want to pursue this more. I'd love to write more in my thesis to make it publishable and to get it published, and maybe to pursue this in grad school. I've figured out that if I don't go to law school, what I really want to do is sociology, and not anthropology (although I still hold anthro in a special place in my heart). But I've been looking into grad schools for sociology, and there are so few places to fill. It's scary. I fear rejection.