I'm back?

Well, there you have it. Murphy's Law in action. I said that I would update regularly - every week! - and then I don't update for months. Of course.

So, I'm not going through my entire list of finished and started projects that occurred during the interim - that would be crazy. So, if you really want to know and you're on Ravelry, check out my Ravelry page - my username is Candytuft.

I decided to post because as my best friends and I recorded another episode of our podcast (that was neglected for a long time, too), Sierra said that she had a blog. I'm not going to link to it because she uses pseudonym's for everyone and I don't, and I want to protect hers and our friends' identities.

Anywho, I'll try to be better about posting, but I won't promise or anything, otherwise we'll just get a repeat of last time. And speaking of repeats.....

I designed a hat!... sort of. (Did you like my segue?) I got the stitch pattern from the Harmony Guides' Cable & Arans book, while I based my stitch count off the percentages used in the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (I still tweaked those to fit my original stitch count, though). I knit it in Cascade Sierra in a beautiful purple color that looks purply-pink in certain lights (and it is color number 30, in case anyone was wondering).

There are a few things I would change, like the initial ribbing and some decreases, but I'm very happy with it. I used the Branching Cable II, which is on page 214, but what I got did not match the picture. I'm not sure if the publishers made a boo-boo and didn't put the right picture, or if I translated the pattern into the round and a chart incorrectly. I still like my result, even if it wasn't what I planned on first.

In the picture, the hat is shown unblocked. Actually, it's still unblocked and going to stay that way. I'm afraid to put it anywhere near water because of its cotton content (Cascade Sierra is 80% pima cotton and 20% merino wool - which makes it really soft). I didn't wash my swatch - I really only swatched to get my starting stitch count - and I'm afraid that if the hat touches water it will explode and not come close to fitting my head. So it is definitely not a hat to wear in the rain, which means I'm not wearing it to school tomorrow, because there is a 90% chance of rain! Fancy that, but we're having several storms, which Southern California desperately needs, because of El Niño. This is great for our farmers, not so great for our teenagers who want to wear their newly knitted cotton berets to school to show it off. There's gotta be more than one, right?

I had today off from school because we are in between semesters and this is a teacher prep day. Finals were last week and I have all A's and A-'s in my classes, except for Calculus AP, in which I have a B (which makes me very happy, because before the final, I had a B-). Tomorrow, I start two new classes - Spanish Language AP (me: aaaahhhh!!!!) and Theory of Knowledge, often known as TOK (me: cool). TOK is a required IB class (IB stands for International Baccalaureate, which is a program/level of classes that gives me international college credit to participating colleges and is slightly harder than AP - which is why I signed up) and is kind of like philosophy as it explores what knowledge is and how we learn. Since TOK is an afternoon class (meaning it starts after the regular three periods and that most of the school leaves when I get into class) and I already have Physics H as a morning class (meaning it starts an hour before the normal three classes do), I will be in school for 8 hours every day. Fun, right?

Due to the three day weekend, I made several knitting goals (there was a reason for explaining my new schedule). I have completed one of them (finishing the hat) out of the five that I made. I'm hoping to be able to finish two more before the night ends - finish knitting the Hemlock Ring Blanket and finish weaving in the ends on the Little Green Wristlets.

My Hemlock Ring Blanket (designed by Jared Flood) is almost done - according to the little formula I figured out, I'm 83% done and I only have 9 rounds left (not including bind-off, which usually takes twice the amount of time a single round does, in my experience with circular items). The reason that 17% is equal to 9 rounds is that each round is (at this point) 440 stitches around. I still have to increase that to 472 before the end. However, I do love this pattern, I'm loving the way it looks, and it does go pretty quickly. I think a round takes a little less than 20 minutes - less than a round on one of the circular shawls I've done.

I'm making the blanket in Lion Brand Wool-Ease, which I love for blankets and afghans because it's soft and machine washable. I used the White Frost colorway for the center and the Oxford Grey colorway for the Feather and Fan stitch. What's cool about the White Frost colorway is that it is particularly fuzzy, which I love for this.

My Little Green Wristlets (designed by Therese Chynoweth) are made of Malabrigo - the same color I made my Moebius (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly and I don't feel like checking right now) scarf and my Star Crossed Slouchy Beret it - so now I'll have a matching set. You know the crazy thing, though? Out of the two balls I used to make all three projects, I still have yarn left! I could probably make another glove, and start on a second one before I'd run out.

Well, my readers, real and imaginary (the latter of which is probably more populous than the former), I'm ending this long catch up post to hopefully accomplish my goals. I hope to talk to you again soon.

Love,

Sami

P.S. I started a sweater for myself, and I can't wait for be able to work on it more (I have a little rewards system set up that involves exercising and eating well for knitting it). Hopefully I'll have it done before Ravelympics, or close to it, because my dad's sweater will be my Ravelympics project, all of which I'll hopefully talk about next time.

P.P.S. I'm going to Stitches West next month as my birthday/Christmas present from my aunt! Yay!!

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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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