Spring Cleaning Friday, Mar 31 2006

Look! A DESK!
Normally, I don’t so much clean. But lately I’ve gotten to the point where I’m actually embarrassed to let most people into my house. Pretty much, I have one friend who I know doesn’t really care. And while I love Kasey, I’d kinda like to be able to have the rest of my friends over too.

So…spring cleaning! Yesterday I cleaned off my desk and a large patch of floor next to it. Want proof?

Look, desk: Ribbony Goodness

I also got some knitting accomplished. By noon (when this picture was taken) I had made it to the point of separating the front and the back of the pink ribbon x-back.

Later that night I finished the left front. There aren’t any pictures of that, though.

Now the question remains–will it fit? It looks like it would fit me, and it’s for a friend who is about the same size. She’s a little smaller, though, so I hope it isn’t too big on her.

Padma Likes Spring Cleaning

The cats like the spring cleaning. They’re very neat and clean creatures and I’m…not. I’ve even caught them “bathing” the carpet in an attempt to clean.

When they found the places on the floor I’d cleaned and vaccumed, they flopped down and sprawled out in utter kitten bliss.

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Picture Post! Tuesday, Mar 28 2006

Since I haven’t accomplished much on the knitting front, I have a picture for you instead. It even fits with this month’s Project Spectrum colors!

This was taken at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Isn’t it beautiful? It was so pretty there, and peaceful.

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This is the Scarf That Doesn’t End Friday, Mar 24 2006

It just goes on and on my friend
Some people started knitting it
Not knowing what it was
And they’ll be always knitting it
Forever just because….
(repeat)

Yeah.

This is the scarf:

This is how much I have left to bind off:

This is how much yarn I have left:

You see the problem here, don’t you?

Don’t ask me HOW I managed that–I think it’s because I thought it was a full skein of yarn but I had actually used a bit of it to finish a sweater.

So now I’m ripping out my bindoff and adding some white yarn. Same yarn, different color. So now it will be a blue spiral tipped in white.

And it will never end.

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Foiled Again Thursday, Mar 23 2006

So, I had this post planned out. It was all about the saga of the spiral scarf (yes, THAT spiral scarf from the Washington Post) and there were pictures and it was fun.

But now photobucket is down for maitenance.

So you get this filler post instead.

OH! And an announcement–I’ve got some hand beaded stitch markers up for sale at My Etsy Shop

For those of you who don’t know Etsy is a great site where people can sell handmade items. There is a LOT of awesome stuff there, and I highly encourage everyone to check it out. Tell all of your friends, too!

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Project Spectrum Projects Friday, Mar 17 2006

I promised you pictures, and pictures you shall have! Here’s a sampling of what I’m working on for Project Spectrum this month.

First up, we have the eye-bleedingly bright pink Ribbon X-Back. This is actually take 2 of this particular project. I’d run into a problem a lot of people seem to have had: even though I got gauge the first one ended up waaaay too big! The yarn in the original pattern didn’t have much stretch, but the yarn I substituted (Moda Dea Ticker Tape) has a lot. So I went down a needle size and a size in the pattern. And I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Next we have the first of my original designs. Because I am just that original, I’m naming it after the character that inspired it, so I now present you with Calleigh:

Here’s a close up of the lower edge, I chose this stitch pattern because it made me think of sunsets over the ocean. And since CSI: Miami is set in, well, Miami, it seemed fitting.

And now for some non-knitting craftiness. This weekend I’m learning how to quilt! It’s very exciting. In preparation for the quilting, I went out and bought fun material to quilt with. I’m starting out with smallish, wall hanging type things so I didn’t have to buy too much fabric.

The pinks, I think, are going to become a wall hanging with sort of a breast cancer awareness theme. The fabric on top of the pile says things like women and health on it–I think it’s meant to be for heart health awareness, not breast cancer, but I’m calling it creative license.

Here’s the red fabrics. They don’t seem to flow together quite as well as the pinks, but I like them. I’m so excited to learn quilting! (I am SUCH a geek.)
That’s it–a very pink and red post, which seems odd to do on St. Patrick’s Day. So go have a glass of green beer (or Guiness) to compensate.

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Project Spectrum Thursday, Mar 16 2006

As you may have noticed by glancing at the spiffy sidebar, I’ve joined Project Spectrum! It looks like it’s going to be a really fun project.

This month’s colors are red and pink.

So, what am I doing? Well, I’ve been working on a Ribbon X-Back in pink, and now I’ve also started a new project.

It’s my own design, part of a series I hope to do of knits inspired by TV characters. I came up with the idea because I’m always knitting while I watch TV, and a lot of times I end up thinking oh, I like that. So, what else could I do but design knitted things perfect for my favorite characters?

This one is called Calleigh, inspired by Calleigh on CSI: Miami. It’s a pink tank top, with a tiny bit of lace at the bottom, boat neck, and if it turns out anything like I imagine, it will be very cute.

I’m also going to start learning to quilt this weekend! I’m going to go out and get some pink and red fabrics to work on some small wall hangings.

And, if I finish Calleigh quickly, I may also start on Catherine, a sexier tank top inspired by Catherine Willows on CSI, knitted in red.

Pictures coming soon!

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Not Knitting Sunday, Mar 5 2006

I really intended to have a knitting post for you. I was going to tell you how I’d fnished the sleeves for Under the Hoodie, woven in the ends for Soleil and maybe even have photos of me modeling Soleil.

Needless to say, none of that happened.

What happened instead was that I spent yesterday running errands and today panicking.

See, I have some stuff coming up for school. Like, a paper on the policy process leading up to Project Mercury and a paper analyzing a campaign ad from the Alito campaign and a story about HIV due on Wednesday. Plus an oral Italian midterm on Tuesday and the written Italian midterm on Wednesday.

And I leave town on Thursday to go to San Francisco (anyone know of any SF area yarn shops?)

So…I had a plan. The plan was to get up this morning at six am, work really hard, finish printing out the e-book for my space policy paper and then be able to relax and knit a few rows during A Beautiful Mind and maybe even go stalk watch The West Wing film tomorrow.

Instead, I woke up late with a sore throat. As if that didn’t suck enough I tried to print out my space policy book and realized…the printer? Had died.

So instead of working, I spend this morning at Best buy getting a new printer. It’s a very nice printer and hopefully it will hold up better than the old one.

So…it looks like I will be spending most of my ‘free’ time (that is, time not in class, asleep, or at work) doing homework. And not the fun homework either–yes there is such a thing, at least when you’re taking screenwriting.

I may try to finish the sleeves though. I’m so close.

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Almost Finished Objects Friday, Mar 3 2006

I think there needs to be a new category of knitting. We have unfinished objects and finished objects. But what about almost finished objects?

You know the ones. They’re sitting in your knitting basket right now, languishing. They’re knitted, off the needles, ready to go except….you need to weave in the ends. Block them. Sew them together.

They’re almost finished objects.

Here’s one of my AFOs. It’s Soleil from Knitty, and here it is pre-blocking:

And here it is again, ready to be steamed blocked. It’s the first time I’ll be steam blocking, so wish me luck!
And here’s a UFO for you. Under the Hoodie from Stitch n Bitch. This is a close up of the colors; I had taken a picture of what I had finished, but I have to email the pictures to myself because palm pilot won’t let me save them directly to where I want them, and it got lost somewhere between Outlook and Gmail.

I’ve finished the front and back, sewn them together, and knit the hood. I just have to finish the sleeves. Isn’t it pretty?
I hit a snag with the sleeves. At one point the yarn got so tangled I had to cut it and start again (I’m knitting both sleeves at once using a circular needle). BUT when I did that, I accidently switched the balls of yarn. And even though they’re the same dye lot, they’re slightly different shades of turquoise.

I briefly considered ripping it out and starting again, but then I came to my sense. The line between the colors is at the exact same place on both sleeves, so if worse comes to worse, I’ll play it off as a design element. Honestly? I don’t think anyone but me will notice.

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Ooh, Shiny Friday, Mar 3 2006

Look, a shiny new blog, just for you! Aren’t you excited?

Well, aren’t you?

Welcome to the new home of Quirky Knit Girl. Yes, I’m back with Blogger. My time with Blogdrive was nice, but ultimately an unfulfilling fling. I hope Blogger forgives me….

I’m going to work really hard at updating on a more consistant basis and trying to make this a really great blog, so I hope I have some readers out there (besides you, Mary, though you know I love you–and PS, where are your updates?) that will be amused by the quirkiness that is me. And my knitting.

A more substantive post will be coming soon, and I hope y’all keep reading!

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