TAKING BACK [THE KNIT]

i am sitting at school using the computer. the girl to my left is posting on an anime board on a topic called "polygamy". the girl on my right is sitting in front of the computer reading. i'm sure the people waiting to get on the computer appreciate that great use of space.

 i finished the "Raiders" socks and they've already been worn by the boyfriend. he went fishing with his dad, and at the beginning he got teased with "Did your mommy make you socks?" and then he told everyone they were wool. jealousy ensued. his family has been really into me knitting and asking me to make them stuff. they've also been really appreciative of what i've made them.

FINISHED: "Raiders socks".

pattern: plain stockinette toe-up sock. short-row toe and heel. 1x1 ribbed leg/cuff.

yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Socks that Rock medium weight in Stormy Weather

I love them! If that had fit my feet I would have kept them. I must make myself some socks in this yarn. I wish I could afford it!

I also finished my knucks! they're awesome, and i'm actually wearing them as i type this. i have not taken them off much since i've finished them. and i realized my dad's birthday is coming up, so he's getting some camo knucks that say "DUCK HUNT"! (he's a hunter.) two nights of knitting and i'm already to the cuff of the first one. also, boyfriend picked out yarn for some of his own. i'm glad i like this pattern!

FINISHED!

pattern: Knucks from knitty.com

yarn: LB Lion Wool in Sage. a little thick but super warm. i love this color! the photo on the left is closer to the actual color. this yarn comes in some great colors. i am pining for the grey.

needles: US #3s

mods: i have man hands, and the fingers didn't fit in the ladies' size. so i did men' fingers and the ladies' thumb, i think.

I will get around to taking a picture that really does them justice. I've wanted to, but it would require makeup and styled hair which has been too much for me lately. Tonight I think I will have to do both, so I'll try to get some pictures done, too.

In other crafting news, I actually played with my knitting machine the other day. (oh MAN! i was just looking at the LB site, meaning to close it, and i found myself on the new Cotton Ease page. my god I love these colors! taupe and stone especially.) anyway, i actually got something done with the knitting machine. even if it is roughly a 4"x4" piece of cotton. i really dislike this thing. however, it occured to me that Clapotis would be perfect for knitting on the machine. so if i can ever really figure out how to work this thing, i'll get the clap too.

Meme time! like Pam said, if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged.  

Directions: If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

1. Open your mp3 library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool.
7. Don’t skip songs.

My Movie:

1. Opening credits: Catharsis - All Bets Off
2. Waking up: Lover's Rock - the Clash
3. First day of school: Live the Lie - Blood For Blood
4. Fight song: Ramallah - Ramallah
5. Breaking up: Jailhouse Rock - the Cramps
6. Happiness: Brain Error - Nekromantix
7. Life’s okay: Hammer House - Folsom
8. Mental breakdown: Crowbar Massacre - Steel Trap (too accurate.)
9. Driving: Strength Through Oi! - Pressure Point
10. Flashback: Stay Gold - the Unseen
11. Getting back together: Rip Her To Shreds - Blondie
12. Wedding song: Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
13. Birth of first child: In Love With a Whore - Hoods
14. Final battle scene: Do Anything - Angelic Upstarts
15. Death scene: Lyin' Eyes - the Eagles
16. Funeral song: Fuck Hollywood - Anti-Heroes
17. End credits: Which Side Are You On? - Dropkick Murphys

it's time for me to be off to class!

I know there has to be a good tutorial out there for 2 toe-up socks on 2 circulars! it is being elusive, though. if you know of one, please point me in its direction. i'd like to avoid second sock syndrome once and for all. and i hate top-down socks.

and it's always an adventure to do this. there were two guys sitting across from me. one with headphones listening to some load-ass rap music, but whatever. he's into it, and i'd rather hear it from his headphones than straight from the computer. yes, people actually do this. we're in a library, and people will sit and have music playing through the computer speakers. invariably, it's something that's absolutely horrid. i may have shitty taste in music, but i don't make everyone in the room listen to it. anyway, the older man sitting next rap guy goes and complains to the people working here that rap guy's music is too loud. then they argue. the librarian tells rap guy to turn it down a little and that they need to get over it or she'll have to call the police. old guy says he thinks that's the best idea. i sit here and try not to lose it laughing. how ridiculous. the cops. because his headphones are too loud. i'm hoping this guy likes hardcore. or i might be forced to listen to the random crazy metal i have on my ipod. full blast, of course. i don't have much, but i'm sure it would suffice. oh the joys of attending community college!

speaking of censorship, (and music in a way) i was stoked earlier when i found a punk rock knitters blog. then i read the rules. no cursing. yeah, that's pretty punk rock of you. i know a lot of punks who draw the line at "damn".  also, you don't have to listen to/like/be punk, you have to like rock. two TOTALLY different things. i'm pretty sure the goo goo dolls are not punk, nor it tool. looking at their list, ten people out of forty-three have punk bands listed. i am NOT a musical snob. i don't care what you listen to, but why be in a punk rock webring/blog thing if you don't listen to punk?! i simply cannot comprehend it. i hate it when things that should in theory be awesome turn out to be major bummers.

(and yes, i'm basically calling them out. but whatever. i'm sick of the whole "if you can't say anything nice" stuff. i'm telling the truth. at least my version of it. tough shit.)

pictures of things. soon!

put a button on it that says "Consevative knitter". Sorry, but that's just how I am. But then again, if one is so staunchly conservative then they probably don't want a dirty liberal like myself reading it. Just a though. 

the laptop i'm typing this on is about to die, so forgive me if i'm ... brusque. i mean, i doubt that's even possible, but i am trying to keep an eye on the battery life. i'm at 12% now, so i should be good for the duration of this blog entry.

i finished my knucks! no FO pics yet because i haven't had time to upload them, but they are AMAZING. i wore them today, even though they were still a little bit wet. okay, they were pretty wet. but who wouldn't like glove that say "fuck yeah" on the knuckles?! i have had several requests for some, especially from boyfriend's family. (i knit his dad a pair for x-mas and everyone loved them!) i even had his dad's girlfriend and some other relatives ask me about teaching them to knit! 

speaking of such things, i taught my cousin how to knit last week. she's stoked, and i'm hoping i will finally have an awesome IRL knitting buddy. she's pretty crafty, so i think that will be the case. also, for one of my friend's service projects in Rainbow is going to be a learn-to-knit day, taught by me. i'm stoked! we're going to donate the results somewhere. probably a women's or children's shelter.

yarn/sock porn: 

i haven't gotten a chance to take nice pictures of the sock yet. it's almost done! they're going to my boyfriend, and they're been dubbed the "Raider's socks". as much as i hate to admit it, my boyfriend is a Radier's fan, so he is stoked. not so much so, for me. but i love the colorway, anyway. and i LOVE this yarn. i really want to make some socks for myself! i still don't have a pair of warm, wool, handknit socks. 

7% battery ...

and this month is no exception. we're not even halfway through, and i already have some laughers.

lately i've been crafting like crazy, when i have the time (read: when i should be studying/doing homework.) i'm working on a pair of knucks for myself, which are coming along rather nicely. here they are:

i'm not 100% sure what they're going to say yet, but i have some great ideas bouncing around in my head. i really want to knit 5743054 pairs with funny things on them, to give as gifts. but better judgement prevails. this color was originally planned for a small sweater of some sort, but my hands have been cold! and there is no excuse for that sort of thing, as a knitter.

i went seed shopping the other day, and came home with quite a bounty.

i am most excited about the sweet peas, and the four o'clocks. i wish it was time to plant them all! i'm getting really sick of this winter and cold weather bullshit! i don't want to look out and see a yard full of plants that look like they are struggling to stay alive. i want blooms and butterflies and beauty! thankfully some of the plants have flowered throughout the winter, like my flowering maples, who are my favorite. Then in the place where I had the sunflowers last year, there are seedlings coming up! It's only February, which seems kind of early for them. I am really hoping they won't freeze. i'm also really hoping they are from both varieties of sunflower that were there. i liked them both a lot.

I have had the craziest weekend. I got 5-ish hours of sleep last night, 3 of them in the car, because I took a spur of the moment trip to Hollywood yesterday. My friends' bands played at the Knitting Factory and I decided to go with them. I have wanted to see a show at that venue since I first heard the name, and now I finally got to! They had big murals of balls of yarn on some of the walls and their logo features a little old lady knitting. In a rocking chair, of course. There is a room called the "AlterKnit Lounge". Oh knitting puns! I can't get enough of them, anywhere I go. I'm pretty much running on fumes at this point since I never slept for more than an hour at a time. The six hour drive killed me. I'm a tall girl, and being stuffed in the car for that long is just bad. But I had a good time. I just wish I could have spent today in bed instead of at school. Did I forget to mention that it's finals week?

I have been so busy lately, even without day trips to the opposite end of the state. Holiday knitting is getting on my nerves. My dad and grandpa want hats and a TON of people have asked me for scarves. I've done a fair bit of crocheting, too. I have yet to really take any pictures yet. I'd like to photo everything before I give it away. I need to get my shit in gear! I also have two pairs of mittens/gloves to knit by Christmas. UGH!

In order to help me out with all this knitting I am going to need to do in the future, especially scarves, I've asked my mom for a knitting machine! I figure that way I can churn out simple stuff pretty quickly, and maybe make some money that way. I don't like doing miles of stockinette, so why not let a machine do it for me?

I had quite the weekend. Lots of drinking, partying, knitting, vomiting, and promoting my friends' new craft group. I had the hangover to prove it yesterday. (I don't normally even get hangovers, and it takes a lot of le booze for me to get one.) There are pictures to prove all of this, but none are online as of now. Check back with my flickr in a day or two.

 And speaking of flickr and new groups, I started a group for projects from the Stitch'n'Bitch books, because frankly I couldn't believe there wasn't already one. So if you've knitted/crocheted/sewn something from one of those books and it's on flickr post it there! Also, I started one for flowering maples, but I wouldn't really expect that many people to be able to contribute. But you might want to check it out, because there are some gorgeous pictures from amazing photographers.

I've been working like mad lately, and managed to finish two projects in the last week. Firstly, the "Fat Bottom Bag" from Stitch'n'Bitch Crochet.

yarn: LB Lion Cotton, in a teal color. I don't remember the name. Heck, it might even be "Teal"! I used less than one ball, which was nice.

hook: whatever the pattern called for. A G/6 maybe?

mods: none. I did the handle flaps a little differently, working into every other stitch instead of SCing across the row. It was easier, as I'm still not sure where exactly I'm supposed to be crocheting into when I do border-type stuff.

The handles are from JoAnn, and I love them.

This purse is going to my sister for Christmas, even though it is a really summer purse. I'm a little late or really early for that. This is the best purse I have made, without a doubt. Simple, and easy to customize.

I also finished my mittens. No FO pictures just yet, but here are some almost done in-progress pictures:

I didn't really want them to match, so I just started the second one where I ended the first without even thinking about where I was in the striping sequence. I am really liking mittens, and think a lot of people will be getting them for Christmas.

 I'm working on my first toe-up socks! They're just plain stockinette, worsted weight yarn on #3s. I love tightly knit stuff! I did a lot of work on them while drinking this weekend, and managed to not fuck them up! I don't usually knit under the influence, so I was proud of myself.  

 When I'm hungover I don't so much get the headaches or sensitivity to light, but my stomach does weird things. It's unsettled and I feel like I want to vomit yet really hungry at the same time. It sucks! Then when I do try to eat, it doesn't taste good and I am full quickly. It is pretty much the bane of my existence.