Believe it or not, I’ve been spinning faster than I’ve been stashing fiber. (The rate I’m knitting my handspun? That’s another story, but I’m working on it.)

Anyway, Chris over at Doodles In String has been encouraging me to spin for a sweater, and her kind enabling, in addition to last week’s realization that I had spun more than I had left to spin, required immediate action. On Saturday, I ordered a pound and a half each of grey corriedale and brown bfl from Crown Mountain Farms, and it was here on Monday afternoon. A few bumps of fiber are on their way here from places further afield, but I do feel that I am much closer to stash equilibrium now. Phew!

I spun up the second bobbin of AVFKW targhee in the Hibiscus colorway last night, (note the lazy dog in the background) and I’m hoping to start plying before I head to class this morning. Apparently this particular blend of reds and oranges routinely speaks to me: the throw on the couch above Boh is the same mixture of colors, and this morning, I put on my sassymmetrical cardigan, only to realize that I knit it in a very similar shade of malabrigo.

I love this sweater, but I rarely wear it out of the house. I think this is because of a mixture of several factors: (a) it is bright (b) I don’t have a lot that seems to look “right” under it (c) cap sleeves in practice aren’t the most flattering on me (though I love them in theory) and (d) the texture and variegation of the malabrigo in this particular incarnation make it look hand-knit in a way that makes me a little self-conscious. Does that make sense?

Despite all this, I’m wearing it today, and it is making me happy.

Lastly, my simple yet effective shawl is growing. It’s the wrong color family for today’s post, but I can’t get over how much I like the way this is knitting up. I’m thinking I may keep going once I run out of handspun and continue with some commercial yarn leftovers to give it a more finished edge.

This post’s title is also apt because I think I’m getting closer to a routine: I’ve made lists of my personal and academic priorities for this semester, mapped out a tentative breakdown for working at home with Boh vs. working in my office, and I’m feeling okay about it all. I guess it is about time to stop planning my work and get to it!

Maybe not. Yesterday I managed to knit mitten number two, and now the pair is blocking. The outsides are dry, but the insides may still be a bit damp when I gift these later today. I have them on the heater, and if they magically dry in the next few hours, they will be immediately useful.

I wanted to post a picture I snapped two minutes ago of the snow falling outside, but wordpress says I can’t upload any images at this moment. I guess that means the other project I started yesterday will also remain a mystery for now…

Back to knitting!

That’s right. The act of knitting cruiser.

I knit this mitten 1.5 times because I misread the pattern and put the thumb at a weird place, and even with the extra knitting, I started this mitten on Tuesday night and knit the thumb Wedneday night after hosting an impromptu dinner party. Cruiser is the right name for these mittens! (Details: Malabrigo in Olive, size 6 dpns.) I’m hoping these will also be for the boy, particularly becuase I’m not sure how well the socks will wear, and these will definitely do some solid warming work this winter. I’m knitting the largest size, but as I don’t have any hand measurements to go on, and these fit me pretty well, I’m worried. I’m going to block them aggressively once I knit mitten numbah 2, and see what happens. I do think I’m due for some malabrigo mittens…

How about more food pictures from week #2 of paper-writing?

Food mill in action.

Tada! Smooth applesauce!

Tofu, avocado and brown rice sushi. Delicious.

Alright, time to go cast on for the second mitten! I imagine I’ll be posting more about my holiday knitting decisions soon, mostly because I’m still deciding…

I know I’m way late to the party on this one, and I have to give Hilary credit — she was talking about knitting cowls out of all of the warm, beautiful yarn we were petting at my LYS, and suddenly I was buying this gorgeous skein of Manos to make a cowl for a friend. Over the weekend, while soup was being prepared, I made some serious progress on cowl #1. (So nice to be able to knit in the kitchen — not something you can do by yourself.)

Apologies for my dirty mirror. Here’s another shot:

I followed the worsted weight mods for the Dolores Park Cowl, but didn’t pay much attention to gauge or needle size (I used US 9s), so it turned out a bit more slouchy than I was expecting. It looks enormous on the table! I wore it around the house for a bit yesterday, and I’ve decided that I like it this way — with a sheepier yarn, perhaps it makes sense to go for something slouchier to improve comfort and create the right amount of warmth. I’m convinced now, but I NEEDED to make another just to make sure. I had some extra Malabrigo laying around, so I cast on 72 st, using the 9s again, and roughly followed the pattern, though I threw in a decrease row about 8 or so rows before the second purl ridge.

This is perhaps a tad snug — perfect in Malabrigo, but perhaps it would be annoying to a non-knitter in a different yarn? Also, this confirms for me that cowls should be bright! I think I’m going to hold onto this one, as it has already come in quite handy for keeping me warm while Boh takes care of his morning business. I’d also like to note that I began knitting this cowl yesterday, after beginning work on a paper for this afternoon, and that I completed the cowl last night. The paper is still only half written…

Also, I’m super excited to link to a shot of one of my pinwheel blankets in real life. Remember that wedding I went to in California last month? The one where I was weaving in the ends to the green pinwheel just before the ceremony, and thus had no picture of the finished product to share? The newlyweds in question purchased a house this year, and have been posting pictures of their progress as they turn it into “home”. Check out that blanket draped over a chair in the living room! One of these days I’m going to need to make a pinwheel blanket to keep, though I imagine Boh will fight me for it.

The leaves are turning crispy, the sun is rising after I wake and I can see my breath when I take Boh outside in the mornings. It’s official: sweater weather has arrived. To celebrate, I’ve finally cast on for 28thirty. I’m using the recommended yarn, in the exact same color, grassroots. (This may be the first time I’ve ever done this.) I love all the flecks of bright colors against the cozy brown, and I love the wooly-ness of Peace Fleece. Here’s one more shot:

I don’t think I’ve quite recovered from the wonderfulness of my Fall Break — it has been tough to get back into the routine of reading all the time. Hence this post, when really, I should be finishing the book for the class I have this afternoon…I can’t help it. Moments ago, I snapped these pictures of the animal:

There are no words.

In other news, Friday morning, I had my first real-life encounter with a knit-blogging friend. We met for coffee and then found ourselves petting yarn in my local yarn shop. It was a lovely morning, further confirming what I already knew to be true: internet knitting friends are even cooler in real life. She has the photo-documentation of our meet-up, so I’ll link there when she posts. (Hooray!)

Also, I finished the forest malabrigo boy hat, but alas, spontaneously gifted it to the intended boy on account of cold weather. He seems quite pleased with it, and if I can convince him to pose for a picture, I’ll share it here.

Boh is whimpering at the door — time to go O-U-T-S-I-D-E — and then I must get back to reading!

Brussel sprouts…

Boh asleep on my Bed (note that his head is on the pillow. Silly dog)…

Beret #2. How did that happen?

(no-knead) Bread #4. This time I used bread flour, and Boy is it Beautiful!

I didn’t actually plan for today to be sponsored by the letter B, but it is nice when things turn out that way. Here are the details of my accidentally cast-on and completed star crossed slouchy beret #2:

Yarn/needles: Malabrigo leftovers from Foliage and sassymmetrical, US 11 needles.

Mods: A bunch on this version: On the increase row after the first pattern repeat, I did K3, M1, rather than K2, M1, to make it slightly less slouchy. The second time through, the pattern directs you to do a repeat and a half. I eliminated the half repeat, and began the decreases, knitting the appropriate cable row partway through the decreases. Also, I did some stripey stuff to stretch the Cinnabar color a bit further, and I like how it turned out. Again, the cables and the large needle size make the resulting hat super squishy and soft. It will be easier to put Beret #1 in the mail with this one here for me to enjoy.

Time to slice into that Bread…

Ta-da! This was super quick and quite fun to knit. The cables increase the squish factor of the Malabrigo, and while the variegation is a bit busy, I am quite excited to send this westward to its rightful owner. Here’s another shot of the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, in which the dog demonstrates his usefulness as a table/backdrop:

Using the eyeballing method, this hat took about half a skein of Malabrigo. I may make one for myself out of my sassymetrical leftovers. This is where a scale would come in handy…I’ll keep you posted. In other news, here are some pictures of yesterday’s victories:

Delicious collards from my local farmers’ market, cooked with garlic, ginger and chile.

My very own yarn! (Dog for scale.) I’m not sure if you can get a sense for the thickness of this yarn, but most of this feels like a light worsted or even a heavy dk. I need to get better at spinning the spindle levelly, and at joining new pieces of fiber without getting an ugly blip in my yarn, but I am feeling really good about this. Dividing my roving into more vertical pieces, and doing more pre-drafting to both lengthen the roving strips and separate the fibers from each other made all the difference. I had a lot of fun with this, and am looking forward to practicing a bit more.

I also have a recent yarn acquisition to share, purchased at my new LYS. This is absolutely gorgeous, local, undyed alpaca. I bought two 8 oz 660 yd skeins, and I’m wondering if I could turn this into a drapey Gathered Pullover. What do you think? Other ideas include a luxurious shawl or lacey shrug.

Thanks also for all of your kind words about graduate school and the transition. It feels truly indulgent to be able to set most of my own schedule and focus on reading and writing and thinking. I’m sure my anxiety will begin decreasing once my seminars get past their introductory meetings and I am able to work through the transitional cobwebs by participating.

Alright — off to do a bit more reading, and then some baking, spinning and frolicking with the dog. Happy weekend!

I am officially a graduate student. I attended my program’s orientation session yesterday, and classes start tomorrow. I don’t exactly know how to describe my feelings at this moment. Several years of work in a range of positions have helped to affirm that I want to become a scholar and a professor, and I am thrilled at the particulars of the opportunity in front of me. That said, I am also incredibly anxious, perhaps beginning to feel the self-doubt that will likely rear its head many times during the next several years as I work to explore the kind of work I wish to do, and the kind of scholar and teacher I will become.

I think quite a bit of this is reasonable at this point: I’ve been out of school, and thus out of situations that require my brain to operate in a critical, academic way, for four years. Many of the people in my program are younger, and thus, while the “life” aspects of graduate school may be newer to them, their brains are likely a bit sharper when it comes to seminar discussions and critical thinking and writing. How do you reclaim that chunk of brain power and work on expanding and refining these abilities? The only answer I can come up with is to just jump in, with an eye towards maintaining a balance in my life that includes cooking, running and knitting (while READING, and this week, attempting to reacquire enough language skills from college-land to pass a placement test…)

So, pie = balance. The pie above, by the way, is fresh peach and strawberry, with a dusting of a crumb topping. Yum!

Also, while the BSJ patiently waits for buttons (and seaming), I’ve cast on for something new:

It’s the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, and it is moving quickly. I’m using Malabrigo in Verdes, and while I worried that the variegation would be too busy for the cabled pattern, I’m liking it so far. This is heading back West, to a dear friend who requested a green hat. I am excited to get this in the mail, as I’m sure the mornings are already turning cold in the mountains.

I’ve also begun making some lists for holiday knitting — more on that soon.

The good news: my new apartment has a full length mirror with some natural light. The bad news: Boh hasn’t learned how to take FO pictures for me yet.

Pattern: Sassymmetrical by gaysknits

Yarn: Malabrigo in Cinnabar, just over 2.5 skeins

Mods: I used a worsted instead of a dk weight, so I adjusted the math (see project page) accordingly. Also, because of the thicker yarn, I shortened the sleeves by a row, eliminating the fourth row of knitting. I knit the body until it measured closer to 10 inches from the underarm. Could have done a few more repeats with the remaining yarn.

I heart this sweater. I wore it immediately (someday I’ll block it), fastened shut with a cable needle. I finished it about half an hour before plans to have dinner and play croquet at the home of some new friends. It was the perfect layer for an August evening, and my sassymmetrical has already been romping through the bushes to pick blackberries.

I also have a silly dog picture to share. Check this out:

Yep, that’s Boh, staring down a young deer in the yard. I snapped this less than ten minutes ago. Given all of the activity in the yard, Boh has done an excellent job of re-entering civilization over the last week. I’m so proud.

Not sure what I’ll work on next — stay tuned!

It will be. I can tell. Knitting content below, I promise, but first, don’t you want to see some pictures of my new home? I thought so.

I love it. This is the first apartment that I’ve truly had time to plan and move into, instead of simply selling everything I own, moving, and then reacquiring things that will “do” until I find exactly what I want. I am really happy with this space, and I am excited to be in it — this should help with the mountains of reading and writing ahead of me. I’m hoping I’ve found an apartment to make into a home for the next several years. I think Boh and I are off to a good start here.

Now, about that knitting…

I love this sweater. My sassymmetrical is about one repeat shy of being complete in the body, and then there are only a few rows on each arm to finish before I can wear it. The weather here has me longing for this — breezy in the evenings, a bit overcast — perfect for a short sleeved cozy wrap-like sweater to throw on over a t-shirt as I walk the dog through my new neighborhood. Hoping to make some progress this afternoon!