Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Oops.

Well, I guess my whole weekly update thing didn't work out. I am just popping in to say that I will blog tomorrow with the updates in my knitting and non-knitting life.

-Sami =D


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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Day After

Wow, it's been, what, another month or so since I last blogged? And I have not been just sitting around (although there was a lot of that, too). First off, let me just say that I'm going to blog at least once a week from now on. Actually, I should have said only once a week, but I said at least because who knows what will come up that just begs to be blogged.

So, every Wednesday, I'm going to take pictures of my current WIPs, update them on Ravelry, and then talk about them here. Sound good? Then let the tradition begin.

Since I last blogged, I have two new FOs. I finished my Evenstar Gloves, which I absolutely love. The length on my fingers is really comfortable, and I love the cables. Now it just needs to be cool enough so I can show them off.

Speaking of cool enough... I finished Francis Revisited! This is my very first sweater, and I'm so happy. I wore it today to pick up my school schedule (more later) and it was great. Except for when the cloud cover burnt off and I was wearing a 100% wool sweater in August in Southern California. Lucky for us, our days have been really cool, so I didn't melt. But it's very comfortable =]. (I'll put up a picture after I get someone else to take one of me.)

Yesterday, Diana, Sierra, and I went to Eva's for some yarn shopping. When Diana went to Poland, she was heavily disappointed in the lack of good yarn at her local yarn shops. Which explains her binge yesterday. I won't say the dollar amount, but three hanks of Malabrigo, two balls of angora blend, one hank of Colinette Jitterbug, and some bamboo DPNs were in her shopping bag. I, on the other hand, was more restrained and more broke. If I had the cash, I would have bought yarn to make a sweater from an old issue of Vogue. Instead, I looked for something pretty, and I looked for something pretty, and I looked for something pretty. Eva's is filled with pretty, so I wanted to pick out something that really spoke to me. Of course, we all know that when the wool fumes get to you, it is damn near impossible to think. I couldn't remember what was in my queue for the life of me.

About five minutes from closing, I looked in a bag and found a beautiful hank of Malabrigo. I fell in love with the color right away and went off to buy it. I tell myself that it is my treat to myself for getting my learner's permit (though I can't drive until Saturday, which is my first Behind the Wheel lesson). The colorway is Ibiza, which is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea. The picture doesn't do it justice. What looks like white has a slight yellow tint, and of course, the blues are amazing.

Also since I last blogged, I've cast on two new projects - the Shipwreck Shawl and the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (which I'm just calling my Star Crossed Beret. I can do that.). Well, what can I say? I love both, but neither have a fantastical tale yet. But that is yet. The projects are young, and there is plenty of time for adventure.

Also, a little update. My "New Purse" which is a Drops pattern is really coming along. I started this in November, but I hope *crosses fingers* to finish all the knitting before school starts. The lining and the buttons may come after school starts, but I'm okay with that.
So, speaking of school, I got my tentative schedule today. And surprise, surprise, it had issues. My US Gov't & Econ classes weren't on my schedule. Instead, it said "See Counselor," which my mom and I did. Well, some people, instead of signing in, went straight to my counselor and talked with her for at least 20 minutes, even though I had signed in and my mom and I were waiting. Mom was really not happy, because she had to go to work right after I got my schedule fixed. Well, we finally got in there, and we came up with a solution. My US Gov't class was added every other day, and I'll have to take Econ online or at the community college. But, that means I get out of school early every other day. Of course, all of this will change if Spanish 4 becomes available every other day, which I hope not, because I want the early day and I'm not ready for Spanish. =D

Wow, that was pretty long. I promise it won't be too long next week, though I probably will have a lot to talk about.

Catch ya later!
-Sami

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday.

Knit night was a lot of fun. Diana and I met a whole bunch of people who were lovely to be with. I found a few of them on Ravelry, and we have a lot on common. It's pretty exciting to know so many people in the physical who can add to an impromptu ode to cables.

I was able to go last night as well. We oo'd and awe'd over each other's projects and sympathized with each other's problems. Hopefully next week I can bring Sierra with me (she was already busy this week).

Tuesdays seem to have become my knitting days. In one of my favorite knitting fiction series, Chicks with Sticks, Tuesday is the day for knitting classes and then knit night. During the school year, knitting club met on Tuesdays. Now, I attend this knit night, which meets on Tuesdays. I guess it's my day.

I finished the body and cowl of Francis Revisited. This is such a quick pattern, I finished the body in only a week. I can't start the sleeves yet because I don't have US #10 DPNs. Hopefully, my mom can take me to a LYS on Friday so I can get working on them and finish soon (not that I'll be able to wear it, it's so hot here). She was going to take me earlier, but she had a lot of work to do.

Even though I'm 16, I don't have my liscense (because I'm a lazy butt), I don't even have my learner's permit. I'm nearsighted in my right eye, so even though my vision is good with both eyes, I'd still fail the eye exam without glasses, which I just ordered on Friday. They'll arrive at the end of July, so I have to wait some more before I'll be able to drive myself to yarn stores and knit night.

I finally finished my first Evenstar glove. I love it, it turned out great and looks great. And I have started the second one, no SGS (second glove syndrome, closely related to second dock syndrome) for me!


I also finally bound off on the garter stitch scarf I kept going for when I just wanted to knit and veg. However, I just got sick of it taking up space on my little table reserved for WIPs in my room, so it's done!



In non-knitting randomness, look at this little guy. Actually he (or she, I don't know how to sex lizards) wasn't that little, he was a pretty good sized lizard. Apparently he wasn't satisfied with climbing the outside wall and that it would be good to climb up my window screen. Nice for me, because I got a few good pictures out of it.





Well, that's about it for now, I'm outta here.
-Sami

P.S. My dog, Sunny, says hi.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Sweater Times


The heat of summer has reached my little part of Southern California. It hasn't gotten into 3 digits yet, but is hot enough that working on my new sweater is a no-no in the middle of the day.

About 5 days ago, I swatched for Francis Revisited with my Aurora 8, the yarn I was dying to use. After washing and blocking my swatch (I was a good swatch knitter =]), I measured it for gauge and I happily got both stitch and row gauge. High fives with Diana ensued.

And on the other side of the knitting basket (do you like that semi-clever little phrase I just came up with?), there was my dad's sweater. Was being the opperative word because I frogged it today. I started it last November as a combo birthday/Christmas gift. I got stitch gauge, but not row gauge, and I never blocked my swatch, so the measurements weren't even too accurate. I also hadn't worked on it since, oh let's see, probably January. My gauge has definitely changed since then, and I only had the front and part of the back done. So I used my ball winder to super-frog it (another of my ball winder's virtues) and now it is, once again, just a bunch of yarn. I'll restart it when school starts again (and I'll be an upperclassman!! Er, woman).


Peace out,
Sami

P.S. Diana and I are going to try to go to a knit night tonight, I promise I won't chicken out this time.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Summer Dreams

Whoops, it's been a while since I last blogged. I didn't mean for such a huge gap to be created.

Well, I frogged my camp headband. I wasn't able to finish it before camp started (because I was lazy) and then I didn't really care about making it anymore.

I did, however, start one of my summer projects: the Muir shawl. So far, it is gorgeous, if I do say so myself.  At this point, I've done just over two repeats of the chart (pattern calls for 13 pattern repeats).  The yarn, Wetterhoff Silvia, is a joy to work with, and the color, descriptively named "921," is perfect for the leaf motif of the shawl.

I found this yarn in my LYS after a rather disappointing search.  Don't get me wrong, Eva's Needlework is a wonderful store with a marvelous selection, but all the laceweights that I was looking at were the wrong color compared to what was in my head.  By some happy chance, I found a single skein of the Silvia, mentioning to my friends that this yarn would be perfect, if there was more of it.  It seems the knitting fates didn't want me to walk out of the store empty handed because while digging around other skeins of Silvia in beautiful colors, I found another skein in "921".

With bated breath, I checked the yardage required for the Muir Shawl, saved in a note on my iPod, and then compared it with the combined yardage of the two skeins.  It was like fate, with the Silvia having only slightly more yardage than the recommended yarn's total for the project.  I happily purchased the yarn for my summer dream project.

Of course, starting the Muir Shawl was as much of an epic as finding the yarn for it.  The pattern calls of a provisional cast-on so the border can be knit seamlessly from the beginning of the shawl.  Not knowing how to crochet a chain, I attempted a different provisional cast on, one that did not work.  Pulling out one of my books, I taught myself how to chain.  (I will not go over to the dark side, I will not go over to the dark side, they don't have DPNs.)

Even before that, I had to wind the yarn into a center pull ball (My aunt rules.  She bought me a ball winder and swift for my birthday and Christmas.).  Easier said than done.  The yarn didn't have knots in it, but it was, at random points, twisted underneath itself tin a way that made it impossible to continue winding without adjusting the yarn.  First time I tried to adjust it, I took the ball off the ball winder, maneuvered the yarn, then began winding again from the center pull ball.  After several minutes of frustration where something would go wrong, I finally had a nice cake of yarn.  I can only hope that the second skein will be less troublesome.

Wow, I meant for this to be a quickie post, but I suppose this is what happens when I wait almost a month before blogging again.

See ya,

Sami

P.S. My flowers are blooming nice and pretty! 

 French Marigolds, grown from seeds, picture taken on July 9, 2009

Pot Marigolds, grown from seeds, picture taken on July 9, 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009

Who knows?


It's been at least a week since these events happened, so things aren't totally fresh in my mind.  Last Monday, I went to Jo-Ann's and got some T-pins for blocking.  I blocked out Sierra's shawl that night on my bedroom floor on top of large beach towels.  I was able to give it to her on Tuesday, and she loved it.  I think that she is wearing it to school today, if it's warm enough so that she doesn't need a sweater.

Anyways, I love the way the Ocean Tide Shawl looks when it's blocked, all fine and ethereal.  That's when I decided that I needed to buckle down and finish the Mystic Light shawl.

At that time, I still has around 17 charted rows plus two uncharted rows and then the bind-off left.  I procrastinated (big surprise) a bit so that when it became Thursday after school, I still had a hell of a lot of knitting to do.


Six hours of work and a few hours of rest later, the complete Mystic Light shawl lay on my floor, drying with the help of my ceiling fan.  I had knit until my hands ached, and then I had knit some more, but I had finished Kierstyn's shawl.

I gave it to her the next morning, wrapped up in a gift bag.  She didn't open it in front of me, so I didn't get her first reaction.  And she hasn't gotten in contact with me yet, so I still don't know what she thinks about it.  I admit, I'm too chicken to text her or walk up to her at school and ask her what she thought of the shawl.

Last night, I started a little project, a headband out of Rowan Lightweight DK.  The yarn is kind of a mustard yellow, but I'm thinking that it will work with my hair color and my camp T-shirt (I'm a counselor of sorts at a Girl Scout Camp next week).

Well, today is the last day of school.  I'm not sure if I'm going to wear anything that I've knit, but if I do, it will most likely be my Malabrigo Moebius scarf.

Peace out,
Sami

Saturday, May 30, 2009

A Cure

If one is in need of a cure for startitis, I have found one.  I'm probably not the first one to discover this, nor will I be the last, but I felt that I had to share.  Guilt.

I have been looking (and almost stalking, but I'm not quite there yet) the Saoirse Shawl from IK Spring 2009.  It is soooo pretty, and as I'm beginning to focus on redoing my wardrobe, it's something I'd love to have.  However, thanks to my near pattern stalking, I've learned that towards the end, it takes over an hour and a half to work one row, which is worse that my Mystic Light!

Which brings me to why I haven't cast on the Saoirse Shawl or something else that would use my Karabella Aurora 8 in Oxford Grey.  The Mystic Light shawl.  It was supposed to be a Yule present (though I say Christmas most of the time, we're not Christian) for my blood sister, Kierstyn.  It is nearly June, and it's not done.  While that alone would put some pressure on me, I have a little internal deadline.

Next Friday (June 5), is the anniversary of Kierstyn's boyfriend's suicide.  As the Mystic Light was first intended to be a prayer shawl (well, something with similar purpose), I want her to have it on that day.  However, I don't have the means to block the shawl, so even if I finish it in time, I doubt I'd be able to block and dry it in time.

Of course, the Ocean Tide Shawl needs to be blocked, too.  That was meant as a prayer shawl for Sierra, and I also wish that I could have it blocked by Friday.  The guy that committed suicide was Sierra's ex-boyfriend.  So there is a lot of trauma around, and I'm nervous about Friday.  I think I will breathe a bit easier after Saturday, but I think I will always tense up around this time of year.

Oops, that was supposed to be about knitting, not my crazy life.  Well, the guilt from not having the Mystic Light shawl done is preventing me from casting on with the Aurora 8 (which is sooo soft, as it is 100% merino(!!!)), but I managed to side step it for long enough to start the Evenstar Gloves.

I am a total Lord of the Rings dork, with all the books (read the series only twice, but I will start it again soon), all the extended editions of the movies (watched those innumerable times), and all the soundtracks, though I really want the complete recordings of all three as well.  Any knitting pattern that has to do with LotR goes into my queue, including A Cardigan for Arwen, Eowyn (those are fingerless gloves), and the Rivendell Socks.

I am now done with the first cable repeat on the first glove, but the Mystic Light is nagging me.  I have 24 rows left, but each takes me anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes (or perhaps longer, I haven't timed it).  The length of each row, though I know that it's nothing compared to the Ocean Tide Shawl is really putting me off.  At least in the Ocean Tide Shawl, I had memorized the pattern, which was really simple.  I have to have the chart with me when I work on the Mystic Light.

Well, at 3 o'clock today, I go over to Diana's house to help set up for her birthday party later tonight.  I don't have a gift for her, but I have an idea of what to make her, even though she is capable of making it herself =].  Lots of dancing will happen, but it will cut into my knitting time.  Oh wells, I still can't wait for the party.

Hmm, I meant to work out this morning, but I'd rather take a shower right now....  I'll figure something out =]

-Sami

Sunday, May 17, 2009

El fin de la semana

This week/weekend was great. I got new yarn (yay!) for the Muir and Shipwreck shawls and I got to hang out with Snowdrop (lots of music and chocolate there).

On Wednesday, Snowdrop & Hawthorn & I went to Eva's Needlework and bought pretty yarn. I bought some green laceweight for the Muir shawl (70/30 wool/silk) while Snowdrop got some mohair and Hawthorn got a skein of Malabrigo Worsted.

Yesterday (Saturday), my aunt took me to Santa Monica because one of the yarn stores there was having a sidewalk sale. Man, that store is expensive! I didn't really find anything I had to have, so I didn't buy anything. Afterwards, my aunt took me to another store in the area, Jennifer Knits. My aunt bought me 7 skeins of Prism Merino Mia for my Shipwreck shawl. It's a bit heavier than the pattern calls for, but I don't think that it will be much of a problem =].

In the evening, Snowdrop and I went to the movies and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It was a great romantic comedy.  Then, we got Cold Stone ice cream, went to her house, and spend the next 20 hours listening to music, knitting, and eating a whole lotta chocolate.

I'm taking pictures of my friends for a scrapbook my mom made for me.  All of the pics will be in black and white, and I thought I'd post them here, too.

This is me.


And this is Hawthorn and her boyfriend (who is, ironically, my ex-boyfriend).


Peace, 
-Sami


Ocean Tide Shawl


It's all done! But Sierra can't see it until it's blocked, so the picture is not on Ravelry, and there won't be one until she gets it.

Posted by ShoZu

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Silence

The night is very silent. Yes, there are the noises of the night creatures or of far and near traffic, but they do not muffle the silence of sleeping bodies. Every movement made by the person awake seems amplified and there are noises that ring out that were not made by the awakened person. I woke up around 1:00 A.M. from a nightmare and wasn't able to go back to sleep. It has been a long time since this has happened. I turned to my knitting, and I was comforted. Podcasts, and soon, gentle music keeps away the silence that brings back the childish fears of monsters in the closet. I don't plan on going back to sleep tonight, knowing that I'd just have to get up in too few hours.
Goodnight and sleep well.
-Sami
P.S. I sense Starbucks in my future.

Posted by ShoZu

Friday, March 20, 2009

Holding Out for a Hero

After listening to this song (and singing along), I've realized that this is what I'm doing.  I'm looking for a hero.  I wonder if I can put that aside.... for now.

-Sami

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Seduction

Oh my goodness, the new Knitty has blown my mind.  So many pretty patterns... and so little time and money!

-Sami

P.S. What is up with my mental lace kick???

Monday, March 2, 2009

I have to ask

Where did February go?  I'm not done with it!