packaged

Shame on me for my heinous delay in posting.

Here are some pictures to make it better.

I shipped off an Etsy order recently. I'm trying to improve my packaging, and this is my latest effort.







































I've also been working furiously on my sweater commission. It's taking sort of forever because the yarn works out at about 6.5 stitches to the inch. I finished the back section, and I've already passed the hem ribbing on the front. I hope it stays fun at least through the sleeves.

And I've had a design inspiration. It has been coming on for a while, now, but today during biostatistics class I actually drew up a schematic and some rough directions. I have some chunky yarn and a couple hours tonight, so maybe I can give this thing a whirl. What the heck am I talking about? Not telling. Hopefully I'll have pictures soon. Really hopefully I might even get gutsy enough to submit it to Knitty.com!

106 years

I just saw and read this story about a 106-year-old woman who still knits blankets for hospitalized children. I would love to be that woman someday. The story gives me good feelings all over.

I've been commissioned to make a sweater. Many knitters will shudder when they read that the sweater is to be a men's V-neck pullover in stockinette stitch, made with fingering weight yarn on size 3 needles at 6.5 stitches to the inch in charcoal grey. But I'm enjoying myself. The yarn is a delicious 50/50 alpaca/wool blend. Super soft! And the basic stitch means I can multitask. I took the project to the art gallery with me last weekend. That was rather fun, strolling around, admiring art, and keeping my hands pleasantly occupied with super soft knitting. I'm nearing the end of the first skein, and I'm 8.25 inches up the back.

I was totally sick in bed with something flu-like for the last two days. Evan was wonderful to me the whole time, offering back rubs and soup and tea, even though his first exam for Human Structure and Function is looming on Monday. He gets major fiancé points. I'm about 90% healthy today. Still a little stuffy and a little sleepy, but the sore throat, achiness, and extreme fatigue have gone (I must have slept 17 hours on Tuesday), and the swollen glands have mostly subsided. I always take for granted how I feel when I'm healthy: that I'm-alert-and-aware-and-happy-to-be-here feeling. It's so refreshing when it comes back after leaving for a while.

Jude is getting more determined about getting out. He's not allowed to be out, according to the rules of our apartment lease. He recognizes the sound of the key in the lock, and dashes over to the door, and slinks there, crouched low with his nose pressed against the door crack. So now when I enter the apartment, I make sure to shoo Jude away from the door with my foot before opening it enough for me to enter. Evan has not yet accepted this practice, and so Jude has a better escape record when Evan's opening the door. At least there's a hallway outside our door, rather than our door opening straight to the outside, and at least Jude doesn't spaz and run away when we scoop him up to return him to his rightful place.

favoritest toy

My cat has a favorite toy. There are several things he loves to play with (including my hair, which can be simultaneously funny and perilous), but clearly one stands above all the rest. It's not the laser pointer, which he will chase and chase and chase until the sun comes up, even though he appears to have figured out where it comes from. Jude's favorite toy is this:

It is a strip of cardboard, the bit that you yank off to open a package sent by priority mail. This strip of cardboard is about a month old, and has somehow been split lengthwise into two pieces that travel mysteriously around our apartment. The most mysterious part to me, though, is how one of these twin strips has ended up in my bed -- literally in the bed, under the covers and all -- and not once, but twice.

I take this to mean that Jude loves his cardboard strip as a child loves a teddy bear, and carries it to bed with him. Either that, or Evan has developed a cardboard fetish.

#8 love

Man, I gotta say, I just love the feel of US 8 needles in my hands, cruising along with some worsted weight wool (working on the wedding afghan for Thatcher and Izzy, or maybe Izzie). It feels so fast! So substantial! And I especially like this new pair of 8s I got at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival last weekend. They're a little shorter than most needles I have, so they feel less cumbersome, and more nimble. Ahh, sweet pleasure.

Last night I unpinned my improv lace shawl from its position blocking on the floor in the second bedroom. (As Evan reminded me to do, by saying, "That's a nice rug in the other room." I nearly punched him.) Picture-taking ensued.

The pictures above have kind of lame light, so I draped the shawl on the couch, for another photo op:



Luscious.

So, thank you, Myra Wood, for teaching me the technique of improvisational (crazy) lace knitting at the Knit and Crochet Show in Buffalo, NY. I heart it.

PS - bonus points to anyone who can tell me where my yarn scale is. It hasn't resurfaced since we moved, and I miss it.

Mostly fiber stuff

This luscious fiber arrived a couple days ago from Chimera. Definitely looking forward to spinning it.





And here is some yarn I spun with fiber I got from SarahWood3587. I just finished plying it this evening. I had to re-wind one of the bobbins into a ball before plying to get the color contrast I wanted. I love how soft the yarn is. I don't think there's enough for a scarf, but definitely enough for a hat.





And I finally finished my improv lace shawl! I cast off last night. I've got pictures with and without Jude. The shawl is currently blocking on the floor in the second bedroom. It seems pretty dry, but I'll still wait to unpin it until tomorrow.

Jude nap

Knitting news: I'm still plugging along on the improv lace circular shawl. The end is in sight. I'm on the third rep of the feather and fan border, and I think I'll go for 5 reps, or maybe 7 to balance out the size of the shawl. The crazy part is: I still love working on this project! How many tens of hours have I spent on it? And it's still pretty much my favorite project to pick up! I don't understand it. I do look forward to wearing it, though.

I've been somewhat succumbing to startitis lately. Luckily my supply of needles is limited, else I would have three more hats in "progress" right now. I did start the Litla Dimun shawl from Folk Shawls, because it's a moderate size, simple-looking, and the kind of thing I can finish. As much as I would love to have the Irish Diamond Shawl, I don't think I've quite reached that maturity level, as a person. The KnitPicks podcast on charity knitting from 9/9/09, and especially the Sticks and String podcast from 9/6/09 inspired me to cast on for a baby hat to send off to Afghanistan, where many babies die just because their heads get too cold. I even have the perfect yarn for it. But I'm going to let that wait until I finish a few more projects. And then there are various promised presents I need to make this year. And stocking my Etsy shop. And Christmas...

I just discovered a new blog today: AndreaKnits Fiber Arts Blog. I'm going to just eat that up. Her work is gorgeous, and her pictures are plentiful and lovely. And it's fun to read.

In other news, Jude is outrageously cute. Jonny came over to pick up his mini fridge, which Evan and I had been storing for him over the summer. Jude was as friendly as ever, and lay down as Jonny and I were chatting in the living room. Jude fell asleep. Nothing strange there, except for his position:

I couldn't help taking many, many pictures. Jude didn't move through the whole thing. Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy.

















Oh, my gosh, I love my cat!

April

Yesterday Evan and I had to euthanize his pet rat, April. April had had a very long and happy life, though in the last several months she had been developing tumors. Evan operated on her three times to remove these tumors, which were superficial, but the tumors spawned and grew faster with time, and though she recovered quickly from the surgeries, they were still hard on April, especially as she got older and the cancer took its toll. These past weeks April hasn't been eating or drinking. She couldn't make it up the ramp to the upper floors of her cage, and couldn't even navigate around the lowest floor. So Evan made the tough call, and we took care of it. As he says, it was harder than he expected. This afternoon he went to his parents' house to bury April in the back yard.

Here's a picture of Evan's rats, Lily and April. April's probably the one on top.

There's still Lily, who is remarkably healthy, feisty, and cancer-free. We wonder whether she will notice that April's gone, or if she will care. More banana chips for her, I guess.