e-beth knits

2011 Christmas Present for Mom

2012-02-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

I tried very hard to get my mom's socks done in time for Christmas but I didn't quite make it. So, I wrapped up the finished sock plus the half-finished sock with the needles still in it and promised to finish the second sock before Christmas 2012. Feb. 2012 is pretty good, I think, and since she lives in Iowa, she'll still get plenty of wear out of these this winter.

Pattern: Serpentine Socks from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson

Yarn: Plymouth Worsted Merino Superwash Kettle Dyed, color 1007

Notes: The pattern called for sport weight yarn but I found that it knit up quite well in this worsted weight yarn. Normally, I use fingering weight yarn for socks but I knew I would not have enough time to finish a pair of socks at that gauge. They certainly knit up quickly!

Meet Cate

2012-02-14T20:39:00.000-08:00

Born Dec. 5, 2011

Here she is, my little sweetheart! She really loves her baths, as you can tell. She's 9 weeks old, now, and we're just finally surfacing to the real world. I've even gotten some knitting time in!

Still pregnant!

2011-12-03T11:29:00.001-08:00

Just dropping by to say that I'm still pregnant even though I am 9 days past my due date! Come on baby, let's get this show on the road!

Sewing and knitting update:

Maternity Sorbetto: sadly never completed. I realized I needed to get going on some baby sewing projects if I wanted them to be done before she got here!
Baby hats for Cate (my baby): I knit two pink hats! Link to Ravelry page here.
Bonnet to match Twinkle cardi: Completed but ENORMOUS! I think it might fit her when she's one or maybe two.
Coming home dress: I made a "practice" dress so I could get some practice on some of the techniques I hadn't ever done like making pleats and a lapped button closure on the back. Then, I decided I really liked the practice dress and so now it is the coming home dress. More details on that soon, I hope!
Booties to match the Twinkle cardi: Just started these a couple of days ago. I wasn't going to make them because I didn't think I would have time, but it seems that I do have time. :) They are Christine's Stay-On Booties.
Socks for Mom for Christmas: I started a pair of worsted-weight socks for my mom for Christmas. They are the Serpentine Socks from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson and I have 1 completed and 1 just past the heel.
Curtains for the nursery: I'm making simple panel curtains for the nursery, lined with black-out material. I have one panel done. The second panel is a big priority, and then maybe I'll make a valence sometime in the next year or so. :)

Why, hello there!

2011-10-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

It's funny, whenever I take a ~~spontaneous~~ ~~unintentional~~ impromptu break from the blog, I continue to think of blog posts while I'm on break, I just somehow don't accumulate the activation energy necessary to actually write them.

Probably the worst part about not blogging for awhile is that I end up not commenting on other people's blogs because I know there will be a link to my blog and I don't want a month-old post to be what people see when they click the link. That is Bad Form, people. I firmly resolve to eradicate that bad habit because commenting on other people's blogs should be about giving them some comment love, not about what people will see if they click the link back to my blog (and, really, I can always not include the link, right?).

Okay, now that I have that confession out of the way let's get on to what I have been doing since the last blog post, lo those many weeks ago.

First, there has been baby stuff. Birthing prep classes, a baby care class, and a breastfeeding basics class (because breastfeeding, while natural, is not necessarily intuitive). Doula interviews (birth and postpartum). OB visits. Nursery stuff. Reading books about giving birth and babies and how not to go crazy in the first couple of weeks. So, yeah, lots of baby stuff. I'm a little tired of baby stuff, really. Yesterday, I read an entire Sherrilyn Kenyon book from cover to cover and man it felt good.

There has been a little crafting but it has all been--you guessed it--baby crafting. Here are two simple hats I made for my about-to-be-born-any-day-now nephew:

Do you like my little model? Here he is sans chapeau.

What is he? He is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae plushie. S. cerevisiae is a species of yeast that is commonly used to make bread and beer. It is also a species that is very commonly studied as a model system in biology and one that I used during my thesis work. This plushie is a crafty rendition of an electron micrograph of a S. cerevisiae cell (OMG guys, I just found that link and now they have mini yeast plushies in a petri dish--squee!). There are other microbe plushies, too, along with various cells of the body (ie a nerve cell). Perfect for your friendly neighborhood science geek. Or anyone with a rather eccentric sense of humor.

I have also almost finished the bonnet for baby Cate's coming home outfit (I am in the midst of casting off!). I think it, like the sweater, will be a little too big for a newborn, but that's okay. There has been almost no sewing whatsoever and rather than finish the clothing projects I had started I need to get going on some curtains with blackout lining for the nursery! They will be very, very simple curtains (basically large rectangles with some ric-rac trim) because I don't really have time or energy for anything else!

So, that's it for now! The baby is due in 30 days (more or less) so I've only got a few weeks until the craftiness stops dead in its tracks for a maternity hiatus (hopefully not a very long one!). There's probably no way to get everything done but here is my list of things I'd like to accomplish before Cate appears:

1. Curtains for the nursery
1. Booties for coming home outfit
2. Dress for coming home outfit (which will necessitate a muslin/practice dress before I cut into my real fabric)
4. Maternity Sorbetto
5. Maternity denim skirt that I already have 3/4 done (seriously, I just need to hem it).
6. Sewn knit baby gowns that I have already started.

Wish me luck!

Busy Building Baby's Boudoir

2011-09-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

The lack of posting has been mostly due to the fact that my in-laws came all the way from Boston to help us get the baby's room in order. We didn't manage to get it completely in order, but all of the heavy-lifting got down and that was the important bit. The rest J and I can do ourselves.

Most of the actual home improvement work was done by J and his father. Over a period of four days, they put up some shelves on the wall in the living room (in our new office space), moved the desk from the baby's room to the living room, put shelves on the wall in the baby's room, moved bookcases in the baby's room (most of our books will still be in the baby's room since we don't have any other place to put four 6 ft tall bookcases) and earthquake-proofed them by strapping them to the wall, and painted the accent/mural wall (two colors: green for grass and blue for sky; I've got flower and butterfly wall decals to decorate the wall with), and, finally, put together the crib and the new Ikea chair for the baby's room. This was all the more amazing because my FIL has cat allergies and so could only spend four hours a day in the apt. before the cat dander overwhelmed the allergy medicine and his eyes started watering!

While J and his father were bonding over construction, my MIL and I were shopping. We got a car seat, stroller frame, clothes, crib mattress, bedding, changing pad, and all kinds of baby paraphernalia, mostly necessary (ie bottles), some not-so-much (ie cute dresses).

We still need to touch up the paint on the mural wall, put up the decals, put the crib against the mural wall, finish painting the dresser, put together the baby's bookcase, and put up pictures and other decorations. Fortunately, we have a month and a half to do it, so I'm certain it will be done by the time the baby makes an appearance!

Finished: Twinkle Cardigan

2011-09-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

My first finished handknit for my baby!

Figure 1: Twinkle Cardigan

Pattern: Twinkle Cardigan. A rewritten vintage pattern offered free on Ravelry.
Yarn: Cascade Heritage 150 sock yarn, 75% merino wool, 25% nylon.
Buttons: I found the perfect buttons on Etsy (shop: ABandC)! They are vintage glass buttons and are so adorable I can't stand it.

Figure 2: The cutest buttons ever.

Modifications: Instead of threading a ribbon through the eyelet row around the collar in order to tie the cardigan closed, I added three buttonholes in the button-band area.
Ravelry notes: here

This cardigan is the first piece in my baby's coming home outfit. It will be joined by a yellow dress with a white peter pan collar (I had already planned the yellow dress so I was thrilled when I found the white buttons with the little blue and yellow flowers!) and (hopefully) a knit baby bonnet and booties in the same yarn as the cardigan. The next priority in this little layette is the dress, then I'll work on the bonnet and finally the booties. I'm working on it all in order of importance (to me) so that if I run out of time, I'll have the most important pieces done.

The cardigan may actually be a little too big for a newborn, but I made it and by golly, she's going to wear it home from the hospital if I have the roll the sleeves up to the armpits and tie a ribbon around her waist to keep it from falling off!

I'm really very proud of this little cardigan and I can't wait to see my baby in it. It's a pretty easy knit, really (top down construction with no seams) but I'm really impressed with myself all the same.

Figure 3: One more shot!

Post-baby sewing dreams

2011-09-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

Did everyone have a good Labor Day weekend? My husband and I did nothing of consequence. Well, I did a little fabric shopping and we made a valiant but failed attempt at hanging some shelves, but other than that, nothing much happened.

I've been thinking about the things I want to sew post-baby (you know, with all that free time I'm bound to have while caring for an infant). I really got into reading sewing blogs for the first time last spring. Garment-sewing, that is. I have been reading a few craft blogs that had small project sewing and some sewing for kids for probably almost a year. I don't remember how I got into it, exactly, I think I followed a link to a link and started reading Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing and Casey's Elegant Musings and sort of branched out from there.

At any rate, reading sewing blogs really inspired me to sew for myself and I saw a number of fabulous patterns that I desperately wanted to sew, but I had a little thing that was keeping me from starting those patterns, a little thing that is growing bigger and bigger every day! I could sew to my pre-pregnancy measurements, I suppose but there would be no way to check the fit and who knows if I'll ever get my pre-pregnancy body back (I've heard my boobs will never be the same, for instance) or if I do, how long that's going to take. So, for now, I enviously look at the brilliant garments people have shown and I jealously sigh over the sew-alongs I'd love to participate in, and I dream of the clothes I hope to make one day.

Here are just a few of the patterns I've got in my mental queue:

Violet shirt by Collette: A sweet button-down shirt with a peter pan collar. It's specifically labeled for beginners and I think it will be a great way to improve my fitting skills with a blouse that's a little more complicated than the Sorbetto.
Ginger skirt by Collette: A fairly simple A-line skirt with three different waistband options. I've made a couple of A-line skirts, but none with this type of waistband. I'd also like to try the option of cutting a striped fabric on the bias and making a chevron pattern. Sunni from A Fashionable Stitch has tips for sewing on the bias and inserting a zipper into bias-cut garments from her Ginger sew-along.
Peony dress by Collette: This is part of their Fall 2011 line. A simple dress for beginners!
Oolong dress by Collette: Are you sensing a pattern here? I do like the Collette patterns! This is a bias-cut dress with a ruched bodice. There are no closures to deal with, but I understand that sewing bias-cut fabric can be a little tricky.
Lonsdale dress by Sewaholic: This is fun, summery dress with an interesting neckline. It would require wearing a strapless bra, but I'm willing to put up with that to wear this dress. Tasia did a sew-along for this dress so I have something to refer to if I get stuck.
1940s Swing Dress by Sense and Sensibility: This is just what the title says it is. It has a cross-over bodice and a gored skirt. Casey's Elegant Musings did a sew-along for it so I have a decent amount of reference material to help me make my own.
1950s Collar Confection Blouse from Decades of Style: This is a reproduction of a vintage blouse pattern with a fitted waist and a fun collar. A much more complicated project to be done after I have a couple of (successful) shirts under my belt.
Plain and Simple Princess Shirt by HotPatterns: This is a plain, simple, princess seamed button-down shirt. It'll be great to have in my wardrobe and useful for learning to do an FBA on a princess-seamed garment.

You may have notice there are no pants in this list. Pants scare the...pants...off of me (I've acquired a horrible penchant for puns recently, so sorry to put you through it). They seem so complicated! It's a whole different set of measurements to get right. I'd like to try them someday, maybe starting with a really simple pattern with a side-zip (like this one from Hot Patterns).

You may also have noticed that none of the patterns listed are from one of the big 4 pattern companies (Simplicity, Butterick, McCall's, and Vogue). I like the idea of supporting independent pattern makers. They are mostly small businesses run by amazing women who had a vision and the courage to carry it out. It's the kind of thing that's worth supporting in my book. That's not to say I'll never sew a big 4 pattern again (I've got a couple of baby patterns from Simplicity and McCall's in my Not-For-Me queue), just that I want to support small businesses when I can.

So, that's my apres gestation wishlist. I'm imagining that's a good year's worth of sewing there, given that: 1) I'll have a baby to look after (and I hear they are sort of high maintenance) and 2) I'll have a baby to sew for (all the cute little dresses and rompers and dresses and ruffled diaper covers and dresses!).

Maternity Sorbetto FBA: Take #2

2011-09-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

So, in my first post on modifying the Sorbetto pattern, I mentioned that I was using the book Pattern Fitting With Confidence as a reference.

Fig. 1. She doesn't look very confident, does she?

In order to add room for an ample bust, the book suggests increasing the size of the bust dart and adjusting the length of the front in order to compensate for the increase in the size of the dart. Well, I tried that method and it did not give me enough room. In fact, after that modification, I still needed to add at least 2.5 inches overall to the bust area just to get a fitted bust and another 1.5 inches for ease. I'm tempted to say that the Pattern Fitting with Confidence bust adjustment was a complete....bust (ha.ha). Perhaps it works for small increases or maybe I did something wrong? I dunno. Additionally, the book does not give you instructions on how to add more room if you find that your first adjustment is not sufficient. Presumably, you make an even larger dart (because that worked so well the first time), but by how much?

So, I decided to try the "slash and spread" method of increasing the bust size which pretty much seems to be the method of choice on every sewing blog I've ever read. What this method has going for it is that I can make the adjustment based on the size of the gap that resulted from slashing my muslin in the bust area.

However, I think that, rather than attempt to incorporate the changes from the muslin into the front pattern piece, I'm going to just start over. There are a couple of reasons I think this is the way to go. First, because I need to add ease overall in that area (front and back). I think the best way to do this is extend the side seams at the bustline on both the front and back pattern pieces. The second reason is I want to determine if the slash and spread method FBA will give me the right fit in the bust from the very beginning. I think this will be useful since it seems that the slash and spread FBA will be my method of choice in the future and it would be good to know how well it works.

So, following the instructions from here, I spent about 3 hours making pattern alterations Wed. night. For real. I can only hope that things will go faster the second time I try to do an FBA!

Fig. 2. My pattern adjustment tools. Not shown: tape. Lots and lots of tape.

At any rate, the first thing the instructions tell you to do is a tissue fitting. I have never tried doing a tissue fitting before, but there's a first time for everything.

To do the fitting, I traced the original pattern onto tissue paper. I traced out a size 10 in the shoulders and armholes, a size 14 in the side seams until the waist, and blended to a size 18 at the hem. I pinned the dart closed as if I had sewn it and pressed it down, pinned the pleat out of the way so I could see where the center of the front was, and pinned the front and back together at the side seams and shoulders, then tried it on in front of a mirror. I didn't take pictures of the tissue fitting because of that whole not wanting half-naked pictures of myself on the internet thing. The result was that the center of the pattern was offset from the center of my torso by 2 inches.

Fig. 3. An artist's rendering of my tissue fitting.

So, changes made to the pattern:

Full Bust Adjustment. Using the slash and spread method, I increased the bust by 2 inches. This increased the dart, lengthened the pattern, and increased the waist by 2 inches.
Changed the dart position. After the FBA, the dart was no longer pointing to the apex. The dart was also no longer horizontal but sort of pointing downward. I tried to follow the instructions for changing the dart, but I needed to rotate it to make it horizontal again. The result is that I'm not quite sure I have the dart right and I think I may have lost a little room in the side seam? I dunno. I figured I'd go to the muslin stage and see how it turned out.
I also added six inches length to the center front to make sure my belly was covered. I curved the hem to the original size 18 hemline at the side seam.
I had to add 7/8 in. in length to the back side seam to get it to match up with the front side seam after the FBA. Then, I added 1 in. in length to the center back and curved the hem to the newly drawn hemline at the side seam.

Now, because I blended to a size 18 from the waistline to the hemline and I added 2 inches to the width of the waist while doing the FBA (more on that in a second) and I'm only sewing the pleat down to just past my bust, I believe I will have ample room for my big belly with a little room to grow, even. So, I didn't need to do a special adjustment to make this a maternity top.

Fig. 4. You too can wear a tent!

Which brings me to my next point, what would I have done if I wasn't pregnant? The waist would have had 4 total inches added to it (since the pattern piece is half of the front, the total added is 2 in. x 2)!!!

That's really not going to work post-pregnancy. So, how does one fix that? Do you put in a second dart at the waist? I don't think that would look right on this particular pattern since it is meant to be only slightly fitted. Do you somehow close that area up? Take the extra out of the side seams? Part of the point of doing an FBA (I thought?) was to add room to the bust and nowhere else to avoid making something that fit like a muumuu.

At any rate, after making all of the changes listed above, I pinned the tissue pieces back together and tried it on again. It seemed to fit, so I'm going forward with the muslin. We'll see what happens when I try this in fabric!

Fig. 5. Behold! The Frankenpattern!

Hold the phone--new patterns from Collette!

2011-08-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

So, so excited to see the fall offerings from Collette which are now available for pre-order. I am particularly excited to see the pattern for the Jasmine blouse which has a simple shape that I think I can modify to be a maternity top! Woot! I think I'll be making the 2nd view (shown above) which has a simple tie in the front and not a bow (bows and ruffles in that area often make my bust look overwhelming, although maybe it would help balance out the big belly?).

I also like the Peony dress which will be going on the post-baby wishlist (more on that another time). The Clover cigarette pants (also shown in the image above) I am not so enamored with. Skin-tight pants do not look so good with my thunder-thighs. Would love for them to come out with a simple, straight-legged pant. That would be awesome.

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Instead of saving the image straight off the website, I did a screen capture. Does that address copyright issues? I'm leery of taking the photo directly from the site, but I feel like if I do a screen capture, it's now my photo of their photo and therefore okay to show.

Learning to slow down

2011-08-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hand-basted sleeve/armscye seam

The other day, I cut out a newborn-sized baby gown (McCall's M6103) from a cute little green knit with pink ladybugs on it. The pattern seemed to be very straightforward--front, back, sleeves, drawstring hem at the bottom that I'm putting elastic in instead. However, I ran into trouble at the very beginning (!) while attaching the picot-edged elastic to the neckline. The machine didn't seem to want to feed it through and would get stuck and just stitch in one spot for awhile. Also, even though I pinned the bejeezus out of it, in some places I was sewing on just the elastic (that is, not attaching it to the fabric). I wasn't sure how to solve the feed problem, but I knew it would be easier to make sure I was sewing on the elastic + fabric if I hand-basted the elastic onto the neckline first.

I dunno, I seem to have this psychological/pride issue with basting. I have this sense that I should be good enough at the machine to not need to hand-baste seams together or trims to the garment. Why I think this, I don't know, considering that I'm a relative beginner at sewing. When I point that out to myself, I then say to myself that I should practice, practice, practice to get better, not use hand-basting as a crutch.

I maybe need therapy.

At any rate, I realized that could: A) stitch and rip out and restitch and rip out until I became so frustrated I gave up on the entire project OR B) I could just hand-baste the elastic on the neckline and then machine stitch it and move on with my life. I decided to go with choice B. And, of course, the hand-basting did make the machine stitching a lot easier (as did pulling on the elastic slightly while I stitched) and it wasn't very much trouble to take out the basting stitches afterward. So, lesson learned. Then, I turned to the sleeve where I encountered another point of stubborn pride: easing in fullness.

Easing is when you sew one piece of fabric to another piece that's shorter. So, there's more fabric on one side of the seam than the other. The instructions usually just tell you to attach the sleeve (it may suggest basting first), easing in the fullness, which is something I've tried to do on other garments via pinning with limited success. It always gets bunched up in one spot or I get little tucks in places when it's supposed to be just a smooth line. I think one way to avoid this problem is to stitch a gathering stitch along the longer piece of fabric and gather it evenly, then pin the sleeve to the armhole, then hand-baste to make sure I've got it the way I want it, then machine stitch it. But, again, I have avoided using this method due to pride.

Actually, it's not just pride that keeps me from gathering and hand-basting and such, it's time. I am not much of a process sewer (one who sews just for the enjoyment they get from stitching), I'm more of a product sewer (one who sews primarily because they want the finished project). So, I'm not a fan of going slow or doing things the long way. I want shortcuts. But, I've finally, finally come to accept that if I want a good quality finished product, I need to do whatever it takes to make that happen even if it means doing things the long way (like hand-basting picot-edged elastic to a baby gown).

So, I'm trying to slow down and enjoy the process more, like how soothing it was to do the basting by hand, actually.

Maternity Sorbetto Muslin Fitting

2011-08-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

So, aided by my trusty helper (I can trust that he will always stop whatever he is doing and come lay on my sewing) I cut the modified Sorbetto pattern pieces out of muslin and machine basted them together. I didn't bother putting the binding on the armholes or neckline because they're not necessary for fit and that's all I'm looking at right now. I didn't hem it either, just sewed a basting stitch where the hem would fall after being sewn so I would have some idea where that would be. I did sew the pleat down to just past the bust, pressed it, and basted it at the top to sort of anchor it down.

So, the first issue materialized as I was sewing the side seams.

Evidently, despite my efforts to curve the hemline back to the tip of the original side seamline, the back is still shorter than the front. So, I'll adding length to the back for sure.

Then, I tried the muslin on.

It looks surprisingly good, given all of my adjustments and the fact that I'm a novice at pattern adjusting!

The good stuff:

The belly area doesn't look as tentish as I feared after cutting out the modified pattern (which just means that my belly really is that big now *sigh*) although there's definitely room for my belly to grow so I will be able to wear this top for awhile (I live in the SF Bay Area, so we will be having sleeveless top weather for awhile yet).
I like where I ended the pleat. It gives definition to the top of the...uh...top and offers something to draw the eye away from the big honkin' belly below. For the real deal, I may embellish the pleat more, maybe with buttons or a little bit of lace or ribbon down the sides of the pleat? I don't know, we'll see what inspiration grabs me.
By not sewing the pleat all the way down the front, I did get extra room for my belly, so that little bet paid off.
The bust darts are at the right level, pointing straight at the "apex" of my bust (I guess it's not common in sewing to just say "nipple").
For the most part, I like how the shoulders, neckline and underarm fit which tells me that starting with a size 10 in that area was a good idea.

The not-as-good stuff:

Well, obviously, I need to add some length to the back so it will match the front
I'm going to add length to the front, too. I like the length exactly how it is without the hem. So, I need to add the amount of the hem (5/8 inch) to the front before adding length to the back.
There was a tiny amount of gaping under the arm that I pinched out.
The upper back feels a bit tight just above the waist. Now, this could be due to problems in the bust, but I don't think so for reasons I'll get into later.
The bust darts seem a little long, ending almost at the apex. I might make them about half and inch shorter.

The major issue:

It is way too tight in the bust.

So, the biggest modification I need to make is to add room in the bust. I first tried removing some of the stitching in the pleat so that it was shorter and left more room for my bust. But, I didn't like how that looked (there was a distinct increase in tentness) so I resewed it. So, in order to figure out just how much to add to the bust area, I needed to slash the middle of the top, to see how much it spread apart at the bust. But, of course, I had this pleat there and as soon as I started slashing, the pleat was going to have all of this extra fabric flapping around. So, I sewed down the sides and middle of the pleat in order keep it tacked down during the slashing.

I didn't take a photo of this part because I'm not keen on putting pictures of me in my bra on the internet. So, trust me when I say that I there was a gap of about 2.5 inches in the bust area after slashing. Now, I assume that if I do an FBA to add 1.25 inches (since the pattern piece is half of the front, I need to use half of the total gap distance), I will end up with a fitted bust. However, the pattern is supposed to have about 3 inches of ease (I figured this out by looking at the pattern size chart and comparing the finished measurements of the bust to the sewist's bust measurement). That's 1.5 inches of ease for the front. So, I'm trying to decide if that means I should add 0.75 inches to the side seam at the bust and do an FBA for 1.25 inches or should I do an FBA that adds 2 inches to the bust (1.25 + 0.75) in order to get the proper fit?

The upper back was still a bit tight after slashing the front so I think that I need to add some width there. Again, there should be 1.5 inches of ease across the back and at the moment, it's skin tight. So, I need to add 0.75 inches to the pattern piece (which is 1/2 of the width of the total back). I'm guessing that means that I simply need to go up a size or two in that area to get the back right.

So, more pattern modifications and a new muslin are in the works (also a trip to the fabric store because I am fresh out of muslin). Hopefully this new round of modifications will fix the current problems without creating new ones!

Sorbetto modifications

2011-08-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

It's starting to be all baby all the time here at e-beth knits, so I thought I'd throw in something that is only a little bit baby.

Ever since the Sorbetto pattern was released, I've been wanting to make one. It's a pretty simple, slightly fitted slip-on top (no closures) with a box pleat detail in the front and the armholes and neck are finished with bias tape. I've resisted making the top until now because, of course, I am currently not at my regular body size/shape. For instance, my stomach now sticks out further than my boobs. This is a little weird considering it's been about 25 years since anything on my body has stuck out further than my boobs.

But, I have an overwhelming urge to make myself a top, so, I decided to try and modify the Sorbetto to make it a maternity top. Considering that: 1) I've yet to make a top that fits me and 2) I'm completely new to pattern modification, I may well have bitten off more than I can chew. Nevertheless, I sat down at the table with my Sorbetto pattern, and my various pattern-adjusting accoutrement. These included: freezer paper for tracing, a tracing wheel, pens and pencils, a curved ruler, a calculator, a notebook, tape, push pins, and a cardboard cutting mat.

So, first up, I had to decide what pattern size to use. I decided to tackle the back first since I didn't need to adjust for boobs or belly. According to my upper bust measurement, I should use a 10. So, I started with that. I want to keep the back fitted and not baggy (to minimize the "tent effect" so prevalent in maternity tops), so I decided I would try cutting the back piece as though I wasn't pregnant and adding all of the extra inches to manage my belly to the front piece. Therefore, I measured my back across my natural waist approximately from side seam to side seam and decided I need a 14 there, so I basically drew a line that went from the size 10 line at the armhole to the size 14 line at the narrowest part of the pattern. Then, I drew a line from there to the size 18 line at the hem to account for my hip measurement. Then, I traced the pattern onto the freezer paper. Finally, I wanted to make the hemline curve (because I am making the front hemline curved so that I can add extra inches in the middle to cover the belly), so I extended the line for the center back (to be placed on the fold) 1 inch and used my curved ruler to draw a curve to the original hemline at the side seam. That was all pretty straightforward.

Next, I tackled the front which was not at all straightforward. I started with a 10 on top (shoulders and armholes) and then I did a Full Bust Adjustment. I used the technique in Pattern Fitting With Confidence by Nancy Zeiman which is unlike anything I've seen on the web, but I figured I'd give it a try. Essentially, she has you increase the bust dart according to cup size and increase the length of the front to account for the change in dart size. So, I traced a size 10 and cut it out, then followed the FBA instructions from the book, and cut that pattern piece out. That was all relatively easy. Then, I ran into something of a wall. Briefly, moving the side seam out by three inches at the waist gave me something that looked like the bust and the waist couldn't connect without creating some funky shape. I decreased the amount I added to the waist by half because I thought that if I didn't sew down the center box pleat past the bust, I would end up having extra room from that. Eventually, I was able to draw a line I thought might work for the side seam. Then, I wanted to add length to make sure it covered my belly. I added 3 inches to the center front and curved the hem to the original hemline at the side seam. Hopefully, this means that the front and back pieces will line up. Having made all of those adjustments, I cut this final pattern piece out (I numbered all of my drafts of the pattern, btw, and wrote on them what adjustments they incorporated so I could keep them straight)

Bottom line: the front pattern piece doesn't much resemble the original Sorbetto front pattern piece any longer. Actually, it looks amazingly tentish (is so a word!) which is something I've been trying to avoid with maternity wear (I feel like a blimp already, I don't need an immense, baggy shirt to emphasize that fact). So, I'm not at all convinced this modification will work at this point, and even if it does work and everything fits, I'm not sure I'm going to like how it looks on me. But that's why you make a muslin, right?

Embroidery Practice

2011-08-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my "Updates" post, I purchased the Daisychain ABCs Embroidery Sampler from Posie Gets Cozy earlier this summer. I loved the look of the finished sampler and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun to stitch up. However, when it arrived I felt a little intimidated by it. It involved quite a number of different embroidery stitches, most of which I had never done. Also, it was crewelwork, which means that instead of using cotton embroidery floss, you use wool yarn, something I had not worked with in embroidery. Now, I understand that the original purpose of a sampler was to practice your embroidery stitches, but since I wanted to display this in the baby's room I really wanted it to look nice and not like somebody's first attempt at crewelwork.

So, I decided that, as a first step, I would practice the new-to-me embroidery stitches on something a little less dear. To that end, I went to the Embroidery Basics series put together by Mollie at Wild Olive. I particularly wanted to see how she did the stem stitch because I anticipated having a little trouble with it since I am a "stabber" when it comes to embroidery, not a "sewer." With that post, there was a free practice pattern (pdf) designed by Mollie so you could practice your stem stitch. I downloaded the pdf, transferred the design to white muslin using a micro-tip marker, and got to work.

Using this cute little pattern, I practiced chain stitch, backstitch, stem stitch, long and short stitch, satin stitch, fern stitch, and horizontal flat stitch:

The horizontal flat stitch is not represented in the Daisychain sampler, but one that I found in a book* while looking for instruction on fly stitch (which was not part of the Wild Olive series and I didn't quite understand the stitch diagram that came with the sampler). The book suggested horizontal flat stitch specifically for leaves, so I thought I'd give it a try. Unfortunately, you can't really tell the difference between it and the satin stitch in this photo, but it does look different in person. Also, you can see that I did the stem stitch two different ways--the traditional "sewing" way and a modified way found on the Wild Olive blog that I felt much more comfortable with and produced (in my opinion) a neater stitch.

So, after completing this practice piece, I decided to start on the Daisychain sampler itself. So far, the work has gone well, though working with the wool does take a bit of getting used to. In particular, it's very difficult to thread the needle and I find myself not wanting to rip out stitches that are wonky because it's such a pain in the butt to get the needle rethreaded. I'm using a needle-threader now, even though I had always considered needle-threaders a tool for the weak. :)

Returning to my little leaf sampler, even though it is a practice piece, I find that I'm kind of attached to it and pretty proud of the way it turned out. Therefore, I'm thinking about doing a couple other nature-themed little samplers and displaying them together somewhere in some simple hoop frames. There are lots of free embroidery patterns online, I'm sure I can find something that goes nicely with my little leaves.

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*The Good Housekeeping Needlecraft Encyclopedia, ed. Alice Carroll, 1947. I picked this up at a used book sale a number of years ago.

Twinkle cardigan

2011-08-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Twinkle Cardi sans one sleeve

So, back before I knew the baby was a boy or a girl, I started the Twinkle Cardigan (Ravelry link). This is a vintage pattern that was rewritten and is a free pdf download on Ravelry. I decided to go ahead and do the original eyelet pattern in the body and sleeves of the sweater (the knitter who rewrote the pattern uses stockinette for the body and arms but included the eyelet pattern in case we wanted it) because it would make the knitting more interesting and I didn't think it was too girly for a boy (which, at that time, I was convinced we were going to have). The yarn is Cascade Heritage Sock yarn which is a lovely sock yarn at a reasonable price and perfect for a baby sweater.

The pattern calls for a ribbon tie at the top as a closure, but I decided that buttons were more practical and safer so I added buttonholes.

Since I'm just a few knitting hours from being done with the knitting, I should start thinking about the buttons. Here are a couple options I'm considering:

Yellow polka dot buttons (from Super Buzzy)

Red apple buttons (from Super Buzzy)

I've been looking on etsy, too, in the vast, vast realm of "vintage buttons." Most of them are far too big, but every so often I find some smaller ones that might work. I'm probably going to have to bite the bullet and just buy a few different ones and then see which ones work the best.

Updates

2011-08-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

So first, an update on the pregnancy. We are having a girl. We are very sure we are having a girl because we had amniocentesis done and chromosomes do not lie. The amnio was actually quite horrible due to the bedside manner of the doctor but, I'm glad we did it. I wish I could say that I was one of those women who seemed to glow and find inner peace through pregnancy, but the truth is I hate being pregnant. I love that we are going to have a baby, but I could do without this whole pregnancy business. I'm tired, cranky, emotional, uncomfortable and I pee a little when I sneeze. And I have several months to go. Also, I have been diagnosed with a low-lying placenta which is known as placenta previa. The condition may correct itself with the continuing expansion of my uterus but until then, I am on a sort of restricted movement. I don't have to stay in bed, but I can't exercise or lift anything heavy and I'm mostly supposed to be taking it easy. I've already had one incident of spotting, but that stopped when I stopped moving bookcases (this was before we knew about the placenta previa). If I have another, I could get put on bed rest. If the condition doesn't correct itself, then I will have to have a C-section. :6

So, that's the health report. Now, onto the craft report.

The craft goals I started out the year with pretty much got thrown out the window once I found out I was pregnant. First, because I was tired and miserable and spent most of the first trimester sleeping (for real, I'd have a 6 hour nap during the day and then sleep 12 hours at night). Then, because I started thinking about baby stuff and pretty much haven't stopped.* There's a lot to do in the apt. to get it ready for the baby and lots of stuff to research and buy and so on. But, I've started to remember why I love to craft so much and that is: it helps keep me sane (literally). I've been neglecting my knitting and sewing in favor of reading blogs about knitting and sewing which is really not the same thing at all (though they are inspirational). But, sitting in front of the computer is easier than paying attention to my knitting or figuring out what I'm going to sew, especially if I'm thinking about sewing for myself. Easier, but not as fulfilling. So, I'm slowly getting back into the habit of doing a little crafting every day and I decided I should put together a list of craft projects. I decided to do it on ye olde blog because it makes me feel a little more accountable and maybe that means I'll actually keep working on it, which (as I keep telling myself) is good for me. So, here's my list of craft projects I want to do:

*Twinkle baby cardigan. This is a free pattern on Ravelry which I started knitting in May. I modified it slightly to have three buttons in the top half instead of a tie closure at the neck and I decided to use the simple eyelet pattern from the original vintage pattern. I've knit the body and 3/4 of the first sleeve.

*Daisychain ABCs Sampler from Alicia Paulson of Posie gets Cozy. I purchased this as a limited edition embroidery kit (you can no longer buy the kit, but you can still buy the pattern). The kit came with all of the wool, two needles, instructions, and the pattern silk-screened onto some beautiful fabric. I got the kit a month or two ago, but I put off working on it because my embroidery skills were lacking. I've done a bit of practicing and now I'm ready to get started. This project will be put in the baby's room after being framed.

*Baby gowns. I bought this McCall's pattern at JoAnns a month or two ago along with some cute baby print fabric and I want to make a few of the items, starting with some gowns. I like the idea of baby gowns because I really see no need to go through the hassle of trying to get the baby's legs into the legs of a sleeper. Babies are squirmy. It's hard enough to get their clothes over their heads and their arms in the arms whatever you are putting them into. Why fight with the feet if you don't have to? I haven't started on this at all yet, but hope to sometime this week.

*Sorbetto top. Colette patterns put out a freebie top pattern called Sorbetto a couple months ago. It's not a maternity top, but I think it could easily be converted to one. It looks to be a very simple top. My plan is to do a Full Bust Adjustment** and then enlarge the waist to cover my belly. I'll be making a few muslins (practice garments) before I end up cutting into the fabric I really want to use (which I haven't bought yet, actually).

*Baby hats for my new nephew. My sister requested green baby hats for her baby due at the end of Oct. I guess that's only color she's missing! So, earlier this week, I went and bought some green yarn to whip up a couple of baby hats.

I have a bunch of other things I'd love to make, of course, but I'm trying to keep my list reasonable, so I'm going to concentrate on these for now. Hopefully, I'll have some progress shots to show soon!

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*This eventually made me batshit crazy, so I've decided to work on baby stuff only 4 days out of the week.

**So, something that I've learned (and has been very enlightening) is that tops and dresses (ready-to-wear or patterns) are drafted for a B cup. I am so, so very much not a B cup so that's why I have difficulty finding button-down shirts that fit me. Colette is unusual in that they draft for a C cup. I am also not a C cup. I'm a DD or E depending on the bra. The way to add room in the bust without increasing the size of the rest of the garment is to do a Full Bust Adjustment. I've never done one but it's about time I learned.

Working on a big project

2011-06-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this blog lately and whether I want to continue it considering I only seem to post about once every two months or so. Ultimately, though, I think it would make me sad to get rid of it since I've had it for so long. Actually, I've been wanting to write some posts for awhile now, because I have a lot going on craftwise, but I've been delaying that until I was ready to share my news.

I'm pregnant!

The baby is due around Thanksgiving and J and I are very happy. Or, rather, we are very happy that we will have a baby in Nov., right now I'm not so happy because I really don't enjoy being pregnant. Seriously, I don't understand what all of the fuss is about. It's not magical or anything. It's not like I'm the first woman to ever get knocked up. And it's pretty damn uncomfortable in a lot of ways. Frankly, the first trimester I was absolutely miserable. I'm feeling better now, but not "glowing."

So, this means that the craft projects I'm interested in all have something to do with the baby or being pregnant. As a knitter, I'm contractually obligated to knit my baby a sweater. I've started with the Twinkle sweater (Ravelry link). It's very cute, but I think the next one will be made with heavier weight yarn (this one calls for fingering weight) because it seems like it's been taking forever! I will, of course, have to make the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. I actually tried knitting one of these a couple months ago, but my head was in such a fog early in my pregnancy that I ripped it out four times before I got more than 30 rows in. Not because I found the pattern confusing (although some of it does seem rather confusing) but for pretty stupid mistakes. Such as casting on 20 fewer stitches than what was necessary. For real.

But, more than baby sweaters, my mind has been on maternity clothes. The selection in stores is fairly ridiculous. Limited, ugly and/or overpriced. So, I was thinking I'd sew some of them, but the maternity patterns available are also mostly ugly. Apparently, pattern designers think that pregnant women would like to wear plain, square sacks for several months. So, I've been looking at regular patterns and seeing if I can alter them to be suitable for pregnancy.

So, that's what I'm up to these days (and will be for the next 6 months). Incubating, knitting, and planning sewing projects.

Short update!

2011-04-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

I've pretty much given up knitting for the moment. My brain does not seem to be in the right gear for it. Every time I start a project, I end up ripping it out due to some glaring error (most noticeably, casting 20 few stitches for a project). So, instead, I have been focusing on sewing. I've got some material for simple gathered skirts and I'm eager to try some of the new Lisette patterns and tackle a shirt or two (maybe Violet from Colette? we'll see). Nothing to show for now, though!

Girding my loins

2011-02-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

I am about to embark on a quest fraught with peril. One that may take all of my strength and endurance. One that may push me to the brink of hard-won emotional stability. One that will potentially reduce me to tears.

I am going to The Mall.

I am going for Shirts. This is usually easier than the Quest for Pants which, like the quest for the Grail, usually ends in failure and makes good fodder for a Monty Python movie. The Quest for Shirts often goes well because I chicken out and buy knits. Today, however, I am looking for that mythical creature, the Button-Down Shirt that Fits My Waist But Still Buttons Over My Bust.

Evidently, in the fashion world, tops are designed for B cup breasts. My breasts are most decidedly not B cups. I'm not sure they were ever B cups. In my memory, I went directly from having no breasts at all to having C cup breasts. I am now a D cup. I was in denial of this fact for a long time, continuing to buy C cup bras. I have now accepted the truth and embraced my D cupness even though it makes it a little more difficult to buy bras.

My difficulty in finding off-the-rack shirts that fit me properly is one reason why I would like to be able to sew my own clothes. However, I am confounded by the fact that the sewing pattern industry takes its cues from the fashion industry and only offers patterns in B cup size. I have heard of this magical procedure known as The Full Bust Adjustment one can make to patterns but I am unschooled in this knowledge and online tutorials have not helped (I think they assume too much knowledge in how to construct garments).

So, off I go to find my Button-Down Shirt that Fits My Waist But Still Buttons Over My Bust. Have no fear, if I find myself in a precarious state, I will seek Sanctuary in The Land of Sweet Comfort.*

*Better known as the Godiva Chocolates store.

Quick Sewing Project

2011-02-06T23:52:00.000-08:00

The other day at knitting, I reached into my knitting bag to pull out the second bootie to knit and instead pulled out a tangled mess of yarn and needles. I was able to get the bootie free and worked on it, but I knew I had to do something about the yarn monster in my bag when I got home.

After reading Jodi's post, I was inspired to make some drawstring project bags. I made four bags, one for each project that I've been carrying around in my knitting bag. I followed this tutorial at Skip to My Lou pretty faithfully except in terms of the size. I made several different sizes for differently sized projects. The sewing isn't perfect in some places, but overall, I think they turned out quite well and they suit my purpose.

Some thoughts:

I used random bits of fabric from my rather small fabric stash, some leftover from other projects and some from projects that never got off of the ground. One thing I noticed is that the fabric I purchased from quilting shops (either online or locally) was sturdier and easier to sew with in places than fabric purchased from a big box store. I have yet to become a fabric snob, but I can see the advantages to purchasing higher quality fabric.
If I was making these as gifts (and I might because I know a lot of knitters!), I would line them and maybe use decorator-weight fabric or interfacing to make them sturdier. My metal size 1 and 2 needles will be poking through the fabric for sure. I'm not too fussed about that for myself because the biggest reason to make them was to keep the yarn separate. Also, I usually use circulars instead of dpns so it's more difficult for the needles to completely escape after poking their way out of the project bag.
I bought a pinking wheel for my rotary cutter for another project and I am looooving it! So much easier than pinking the seam allowances later after sewing the seams.

A little more realistic in February

2011-02-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

I think I was a little too ambitious in January. You know how it is, the start of the new year, the urge to get things in order, set goals, stop procrastinating and find some way to make Christmas not be crazymaking this next year. What I always forget is that I have seasonal affective disorder and Jan. and Feb. are the hardest months of the year for me. While the days are getting longer, there are generally more clouds and precipitation than in other months. So, I need to decide what's most important to me and schedule a limited number of things to do. So, I'm re-evaluating what I want to do on a monthly basis.

Let's start with the Embroidery Sew-Along. I loved my project last month. I had forgotten how satisfying I found stitching. The project for this month is pillowcases. There are two types of pillowcase designs in the book; I'm going to do the satin-stitch initials. I'm going to make one pillowcase for me and one for J. My dilemma is figuring out what pillowcases to do them on. I want to get new pillowcases, but should I get ones that match my current bedding (which I'm not crazy about) so I can enjoy them now or should I buy ones that would go with my dream bedding, realizing that 1) my dream bedding may take a long time to materialize (since I want to make a queen sized quilt) and 2) I might change my mind about what my dream bedding will be before I ever get to use the pillowcases. I'm leaning toward the dream bedding and making that one step toward having a bedroom I really love.

Year of Stash Socks. I started this knit-along not because I have a large stash but because I wanted to have interesting sock patterns picked out for me. However, I'm not really sure I have the time for this knit-along right now. I didn't even finish last month's socks and this month we are doing mittens which I'm not so into making right now given I live in CA. Maybe I'll just put this on hold and see how I feel about it in March. I still would like to finish the Jan. socks, though.

Christmas. I still think it's a good idea to work on Christmas gifts throughout the year instead of cramming it all into Nov. and Dec. Especially since my family usually celebrates Christmas early and I often have to ship gifts, requiring me to be done by the beginning of Dec. But, I think I'm going to put it on hold for the next couple of months until I get more energy.

Stitch by Stitch. I still want to work my way through this book. But, again, I might put this off for another month or so. I do have material for the napkins which are one of the first few projects, though.

The thing is, while it's great to have a plan for what to make, I need to feel like I have enough flexibility to do whatever project I feel inspired to do. And then, there's non-Christmas gift-knitting. It seems like everyone is having babies. I'm really enjoying the baby booties I'm knitting, maybe I should knit a few pairs of those until they become boring and then I'll have a stash of baby gifts.

So, that's what the plan is for this month: embroider pillowcases, finish Jan. socks, knit baby booties, sew napkins.

January Round-up

2011-02-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

I had a large number of goals for this month in terms of crafting. Here's what I actually got accomplished.

Goals:

The Year of Stash Socks knit-along on Ravelry--St. Brigid's Canomoyle Socks (Rav. link).

One half of one sock in Cascade 220

I'm about ready to start the heel. It's not that I don't like the sock or the pattern, I just get distracted by new, shiny things!

Embroidery Companion Sew Along--Days of the Week teatowels.

Saturday and Sunday pictured on my oven handle

These were pretty fun. The pattern wanted you to enlarge the template 161%, but I didn't want images that big. For the towels, I got plain white toweling from Moda, hemmed them, then sewed strips of gingham fabric to each one to make the checked stripe. I used two strands of DMC cotton embroidery floss (note to self: color #322). I only did Sat. and Sun. but I have enough toweling to do all of the days of the week if I get ambitious. I really like how these turned out, so I might do it. Very satisfying for my first embroidery project!

Then I made a few things that were not part of my goals for Jan. Last weekend I hosted a baby shower and made the decorations:

The honoree, E, is having twins (!) a boy and a girl, so I went with a gender neutral color scheme: orange, green, and yellow (hey, I just noticed most of the food fit into that scheme, totally not planned). I made the banner, little cupcake picks that said twins, some tissue paper flowers and some yarn pom-poms. E is in my knitting group and the party was for knitters, so for a shower activity, we made these:

Christine's Stay-on Baby Booties

I've got one done and the other just needs a cuff. Then I need to make the i-cord ties. I just used leftover sock yarn. They take a little over 20g of yarn.

I have very little handmade dishcloths. I've decided I need to fix that.

Finally, I made these wool soakers (pictured below on top of the afghan my mother made for my wedding gift) for another person in my knitting group who had her baby a couple of weeks ago and is using cloth diapers. It's the Curly Purly pattern. They knit up pretty quick in this beautiful yarn, Shepherd's Wool which is soft and dreamy. I knit the small size for both, one with butt shaping and one without. Hopefully she gets some good use out of them!

New Kitty!

2011-01-15T22:00:00.001-08:00

Today, we adopted a new kitty!

We got him today at an adoption fair for Pets in Need held at our apt. complex. He's a youngster--8 months old. He came with the name Lorenzo. We're not sure if we'll be keeping the name or not. So far, he has started to get the idea he should use the scratching post (for which he got a treat) although he has also scratched at the carpet and he used the litter box so he's acclimating very well. Actually, he's been pretty laid back the whole day. He likes to lay on John on the couch which I find hilarious because J is not into pets. J studiously ignores him but Lorenzo doesn't seem to mind. :)

As for crafting, I think I'm going to have to re-evaluate how much I can get done in a month! This month, I had planned on doing the following:

Year of Stash Socks knitalong: St. Brigid socks.
Embroidering Companion Sew-along: Days of the week tea towels.
Christmas: Pembroke Vest for nephew H.
Stitch by Stitch: One project a month in order.

So far, I have:

Gotten the yarn for the knitalong
Gotten the book and the toweling for the sew-along
Nothing on the vest
Bought some onesies for the applique

So, um, I've got all of the materials, but haven't done any of the work on any of this, and, the month is half over. However, I have made 1.9 wool soakers for a knitting group friend who will be having a baby any moment now and is going to be using cloth diapers, so at least I have accomplished something, even if it has nothing to do with any of the goals I set for the month.

So, being realistic, I think I might be able to get one sock (worsted weight yarn), one teatowel and one onesie done.

*I'm not sure if I mentioned it on the blog, but Ghiradelli died before I left Chicago. I still miss big guy. :(

Dusting off the old blog

2011-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about blogging a lot lately (as in, "Maybe I should get back into blogging"), but wasn't sure I wanted to make a commitment to it. And then, I wrote a couple of notes on Facebook (one about seeing Harry Potter 7.1 and another about books I read in 2010) and I realized I miss having an outlet for my thoughts. So, here I am dusting off the blog after a year of dormancy. I don't know how long it will take me to get back into the swing of things, but my goal is to post at least twice a week.

I should probably catch people up on what I've been doing (assuming there's anyone out there who still has my blog in their feed reader and sees I suddenly have a new post).

I finished my PhD and graduated in June. Can we get a Hallelujah? It took 10 years, but I am finally, finally Dr. Montegna! However, despite having this advanced degree, I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. I'm currently considering teaching and doing some exploration into that. Secretly, I hope I get pregnant and become a stay at home mom for awhile. In the meantime, I'm relaxing at home, teaching catechism on the weekend, reading, and crafting. It's a hard life.

I continue to go to my knitting group as often as it meets (usually 2 days a week, but we've cut back to one day a week over the holidays). I have done plenty of knitting but haven't taken many pictures of my projects nor have I really been keeping track of them on Ravelry. That's something I'm hoping to improve upon this year. I've also been working on sewing projects for myself and my gaggle of nephews. My new favorite medium is felt. So. easy. to. work. with.

I knitted gifts for nearly everyone this Christmas. Socks for my mom and MIL, hats for BIL, FIL, UIL (uncle-in-law) and a scarf for my SIL. My FIL still wears the scarf I made for him 10 years ago! Such dedication to a handknit should be rewarded so I need to find the perfect gift to make him next year. Socks, maybe? Or even...a sweater????

I had planned to knit sweater vests for three of my nephews and a sweater for the fourth but ran out of time. I have actually knit all of the pieces for the sweater, but I want to redo the tops of the sleeves. I had blocked them and realized they were different sizes as I did so. I frogged back both of the tops (since they were both wrong) and reknit using the same yarn. There is a very, very clear demarkation between the original knitting and the reknit stuff. The original knitting looks beautiful and perfect and the reknit portion looks wonky with ugly stitches. I had thought blocking would even them out but I was wrong. So, I'll be frogging them yet again and knitting with fresh yarn. I know I could use the frogged yarn if I made it into a hank and then washed it and dried it to straighten it back out but I don't have the patience to do that. I do have more than enough extra yarn, though, so that's the route I'm going.

I've signed up for some craft-alongs for the new year and set myself some schedules I'm hoping to follow. They are:

The Year of Stash Socks knit-along on Ravelry. The organizers pick two patterns per month and we knit from our stashes. Alternatively, you can knit a plain vanilla sock if you so choose. I don't have that big of a stash that it needs to get under control (in fact, I had to buy yarn for the first month because I didn't have a superwash worsted weight yarn for the pattern), I just wanted to join a sock club. For Jan., I am doing St. Brigid's Canomoyle Socks (Rav. link).
2011 Christmas Once a Month. This is a schedule of my own devising. I'm working on one Christmas present a month this year in the hopes that I will not be frantically working on Christmas presents in November and December. First up, the Pembroke Vest for nephew H.
Embroidery Companion Sew Along. This is based on the book Embroidery Companion by Alicia Paulson. The first project is the Days of the Week teatowels. I've done a fair bit of cross-stitch but almost no straight up embroidery and have always wanted to try it. This seemed like a good opportunity to start.
Stitch by Stitch. This is my own thing. I received the book Stitch by Stitch by Deborah Moebes for Christmas and am going to try to do at least one project from it a month. The book is a real learn-to-sew book. It assumes you know absolutely nothing. It even gives you patterns for paper templates to practice sewing curves. The projects are meant to be done in order as each one is building a new skill and taking advantage of skills you have built from previous projects. Having sewn a few skirts, I'm not a complete newbie, but I think doing these projects will teach me a lot about how to sew with more polish. It comes with patterns for the garments (which are towards the end of the book), but I'm a little concerned about them, because I would need to lose something like 30 or 40 pounds to fit into the largest size. While I would like to lose that much weight I'm really hoping to be pregnant by the time I reach those projects. Maybe I'll sew them for someone else? (Like my mom who is thin.)

That's a lot of crafting! And, I confess, the only thing I've started is the vest. I don't even have the book for the embroidery one! (Note to self: buy embroidery book tomorrow.) Also, I have some friends with babies due so I want to knit for them, too. I guess I'd better get started!

Christmas tree

2009-12-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

My friend, R, requested some pix of my Christmas tree, so here they are:

I like to collect Christmas ornaments and have gotten many of them while traveling or to celebrate some particular milestone. Our tree was a little smaller than what we've had in the past (real Christmas trees are so much more expensive out here than they were in Chicago!), so we couldn't put all of our ornaments on the tree. Here's a sampling of what we had:

Here is a Las Vegas ornament at the top to commemorate driving from Chicago to Pasadena when John moved there, the one with the Eiffel Tower is from when John and I went to France, the blue ball is one I got at the Christkindl Market in Chicago, the white one with the blue tip in the lower left is one I got in Genoa, Italy when John and I went there. The British phone booth on the right was a gift from me to John because he likes Dr. Who.

In this one, you can see some of the ornaments from the previous picture, plus a green and white ornament toward the top that I got at Disneyland when I visited this year, a green and silver one that is a car from the T, the subway in Boston (BU, where John and I went to school, was on the Green line). Just above the red one with the gold half moon (which I got for John for Christmas one year) is a little San Franscisco trolley I got when I went to the American Society for Cell Biology for the first time (it was in SF). At the bottom is a green one you can't see the logo on, but it is from the observatory John goes to in Hawaii.

In this one, you can see a teddy bear with a blue coat that I gave John one year, a Hawaiian Santa that John gave me one year, an M&M guy that John got me one year and a gold ornament from Disneyland.

There are lots more, too, and of course there are the ones that didn't even make it on the tree this year. John has a whole host of ornaments that are ships from Star Wars and Star Trek that plug into the light string or have batteries and light up or say something when you press a button that didn't make it on the tree this year (for example, there's one that's a shuttle from Star Trek that has the voice of Leonard Nimoy saying Happy Holidays). Maybe next year we'll get a really big fake tree and be able to put all of the ornaments on it. Or maybe I should put the ornaments on a rotation so that they are on a schedule for getting on the tree every other year or so.

Red scarf and gifts

2009-12-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

I have a slight backlog of finished objects to show off.

First up, the Red Scarf:

Specs:

Pattern: A simple pattern from the depths of my brain. Seed stitch with a simple 8 stitch cable in the middle.

Yarn: Cascade 200, 100% wool.

This was a charity project for the Red Scarf Project run by the Orphan Foundation of America. The OFA puts together care packages for kids who were previously foster-children who are now in college. The scarves go in the Feb. care packages, hence the preference for red. I like how it looks, but I find it a tad itchy. I think this is a product of the yarn, the fact that I did seed stitch instead of something smoother, and the fact that I am a delicate flower. It wouldn't preclude me from wearing it, though, so I decided it was worthy of being sent to the OFA. I apologize for the glare of the flash obscuring some things. In the picture is a card with a few words of encouragement and an iTunes gift card that I sent along with the scarf. They like you to put a little something extra in with your scarf. What college student wouldn't like some $ to spend at iTunes? Also not really recognizable is the tag I attached to the scarf.

I printed up some of these to put with the gifts I made this year. This particular one has washing instructions on the back.

Next up are two little stuffed toys I made for my nephews:

I included a marker for scale. This was a Burda pattern that I sort of followed. That is, I eliminated the machine embroidery applique and hand-stitched the patches on the belly, ears, hands, nose and eye. I also hand-stitched the mouth and used plastic safety eyes. Considering how difficult it was to get those damn things in, I don't think they'll be pulled loose anytime soon. The main body is fleece and the patches are quilting cotton. I used embroidery floss for the stitching on the patches. I also used double-sided applique bond stuff (don't actually know what that stuff is called) so the patches are stuck on there in addition to being stitched on. Again, not coming off anytime soon. There really should be three toys because there's another little nephew of mine I was planning on making one for, but I had to get two of them done super quick because my family does Christmas the weekend before and I wanted to get everything to them on time. Now, I'm running out of steam on making Christmas gifts, so nephew H may get some NASA onesies or something like that (there's a gift shop at the NASA center) to go with his Mickey Mouse (I got one of those for each nephew at Disneyland).

Next up, a bath gift set for my SIL:

Specs:

Pattern (bag): I made it up. I knit in the round for around 8 inches, then did yo, k2tog around, then knit in the round for a couple more inches, bound off, then sewed the bottom of the bag together.

Pattern (washcloth): Dapper Dab from a leaflet called Color-Splash Discloths.

Yarn: Cascade Cotton Club, a cotton/acrylic blend

I originally was just going to make a couple of washcloths and pair them with some nice soaps, but then decided to make it look more complete by making a bag to put a washcloth and soap in (the soaps were from Cost Plus World Market). The bag is lined with the material it is laying on in the picture which I hand-stitched in:

Finally, a scarf for my MIL (seen here under the tree with the completed bath set):

Specs:

Pattern: Also made up. Very similar to the red scarf except that I made a 12-stitch braided cable up the center.

Yarn: Crystal Palace Merino 5, 100% superwash wool

I was planning on making my MIL a bath puff and giving her soap to go with it, but I didn't like how the bath puff came out. The red scarf worked up surprisingly quickly, so I decided to make a similar one for my MIL. I did the bulk of the knitting while at knitting group or while listening to an audio book (I'm making my way through the Dresden Files series) so the fact that in the last couple weeks I have knit 10 feet of seed stitch plus cable didn't drive me insane.

So, that's it for the Christmas gifts. I need to wrap the bath set and scarf and get the NASA thingie and wrap it then everything will be set for the in-laws and I can send the stuff out (FIL got a mug from the observatory J goes to and coffee and BIL got a t-shirt from the observatory so they are all taken care of as well).

A waste of perfectly good panic

2009-12-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

After completely freaking out about the Christmas deadline, I went and finished a couple of gifts lickety-split. I feel a little silly now for panicking.

Mom's socks:

Pattern: On-Hold from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson with two stitches removed from either side of the central pattern for fit.

Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight, Jasper colorway

Needles: Addi Turbo size 0

These were not as much fun to knit as my sister's socks. I think because the yarn was so stiff and I was knitting them on smaller needles. They feel great as socks, though, and they're slightly small for me which means they'll be perfect for Mom. I've decided I'm not a huge fan of Socks that Rock, though, which I think might be sacrilege in some circles.

For nephew B:

Pattern: Oh Balls! from Ravelry

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Lime, Maize, and Cherry

Needles: US size 5 dpns

These knit up so quick I could see that they could become addictive. It was a really satisfying project and I have decided that I really like working with Cotton-Ease. These balls will be just the right size for a toddler to throw and since they are stuffed with poly fiberfill, they're not going to do any damage. Conceivably, they could knock over something very lightweight but that's about it. These will be going with the braided ball I made and a stuffed Mickey Mouse from Disneyland. So, I'm all finished with my gift for nephew B.

AND, I started a Red Scarf!

The guilt got to me. I really felt I should do a charity project for the holidays and they really need scarves for this charity so I sucked it up and started a scarf. I'm using Cascade 220 and just winged the pattern--seed stitch with an 8 stitch cable in the middle. I'm cabling every 8 rows. It's been going pretty fast, I've got 46 inches so far. With just 14 more inches to go to meet the suggested length, I think I'll be able to send it out on time. I'm really liking the Cascade 220--so much better than the wool-ease!

So, I've got two Christmas gifts completed and a charity project almost done. Not bad for the first of December!

Braided ball

2009-11-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

Specs:

Pattern: Braided ball from Ravelry

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-ease in maize, lime, and cherry; probably about 1/4 to 1/3 of each skein, maybe less.

Needles: US size 3 bamboo

I made this braided ball for my nephew, B, for Christmas. He is 2 years old. I have feeling he will have the ball for about 2 minutes before he pulls it all out of shape, but I hope he will have fun with it, regardless. Also, if you pull the braids apart a little, you can put something inside it which I think might be a fun thing for a toddler. I think I might make several little regular balls to go with it and those, plus the Mickey Mouse stuffed animal I got him from Disneyland will make up his Christmas present.

I'm making a lot of Christmas presents this year and it makes me a little bit nervous that I might not get them all done. I've got the socks for Mom, these balls for B, and several little stuffed animals that I am sewing for my three other nephews, L, G, and H. And, if I get all of those done, I might knit little purses for my step-nieces. I started one purse and then never finished it and now I'm not sure I'm going to get those done. I have other stuff for them for Christmas so they might not get something handmade this year. Also, I'm crocheting a bath puff for my MIL and a washcloth for SIL both of which will be paired with some fancy bath soap/shower gel.

The deadline for Christmas is looming. I know it's not even Dec. yet, but my family celebrates Christmas the weekend before and since I'm not going there, I need to ship it all in time to get there by Dec. 19. We're not going to the in-law's either, so those gifts also need to be shipped, although they can be shipped a little later.

With all of the handmade stuff I'm doing for my family, I don't have much time for other handknits. I wanted to make something for charity, specifically, the red scarf project since they are in such need of scarves, but the deadline for it is Dec. 15, and when I started a scarf for that, I completely freaked out about not meeting any of my deadlines and I had an actual panic attack and spent half the night in bed feeling like I was going to puke which was terribly unproductive. I even bought some wool-ease for the project and now I'm going to have to return it. Even if I somehow get everything done superquick and still have time to knit a scarf, I have decided I hate wool-ease. I have knit with it in the past and not had a problem with it but this time it seemed really cheap and, I don't know, acrylicky (new word). I don't know if they have changed it recently or if I have become more of a yarn snob. Anyway, I feel bad about not making anything for charity, but I don't want to risk another panic attack, so I'm going to let it go.

Mom's socks: first sock complete

2009-11-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

One sock down, one to go!

On-hold socks, now off-hold

2009-11-18T20:23:00.001-08:00

Sometime in Oct., I started my Mom's Christmas present, a pair of socks using the On-Hold pattern from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. I got a little over one pattern repeat done and then stalled. The socks were coming out too big. *sigh*

So, I kinda stopped working on them. The On-Hold socks were on hold. It didn't help that the pattern wasn't something I could work on at knitting group because I had to do too much counting and would keep getting distracted.

Last weekend, it occurred to me that Christmas was approaching (this is, of course, exactly what the stores want you to think with all of the Christmas decorations hanging from their ceilings). I really didn't want to get down to the wire with the knitting (or worse, miss Christmas entirely) and given that I was going to have ship these babies since I'm not going home for Christmas this year AND the fact that my family celebrates Christmas the weekend before Christmas, I knew I had to get working on these socks again.

So, I got out the size zero needles and started over. Unfortunately, there wasn't much difference in size (read almost none at all) between the first sock I started and the second sock. I almost gave up and started a new pattern, but I realized I could remove a few knit stitches on each side of the central pattern (and off the sole, then, too, of course) so that's what I did. Now, I've done four pattern repeats and am about to start the heel of the first sock. Still a ways to go, but I'm getting there!

While knitting, I've been listening to the first Dresden Files book, Storm Front, by Jim Butcher. I've only read (listened to) three or four chapters but I'm finding it entertaining so far. I download audio books from audible.com and I'm pretty pleased with audible. When I first started downloading books from them, you couldn't listen to a clip of the book (you just had to go on the reviews and there would be some where people both loved and hated the narrator) and I ended up getting one or two books that I never listened to past the first few minutes because I hated the narrator. These days, you can listen to a clip and that makes me very happy.

You're probably wondering what I've been knitting on at knitting group if I haven't been knitting on Mom's socks. Another pair of socks, of course. This pair is for me. I have no idea when I started the first sock, but I had gotten it all the way to the point of kitchnering the toe and then stopped, letting it languish for months. I finally picked it back up when I needed something mindless for knitting group and now I've completed the leg and the heel of the second sock (in addition to stitching up the toe of the first sock, of course)! The yarn is a bamboo blend from Regia and the needles are size 2 so it's zooming along. Pretty soon, I'll need to find some other mindless knitting for knitting group.

I'll get pictures of Mom's socks and my socks up one of these days.

Random anecdote: Today, I was at Starbucks and I ordered a chai latte. The person at the register asked me if I wanted a shot of expresso in it. Um, no.

M's Socks Christmas 2008: Done

2009-10-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last night (Monday), I wove in the ends* for M's 2008 Christmas socks! Hurray!

For some reason, the second sock had more pooling than the first sock...

...but I'm not complaining.

I even found the perfect card to go with them at the LYS:

Specs:

Pattern: Diagonal Lace Socks from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson

Yarn: TOFUtsies in the Feet First colorway (I think that's the right colorway, I seem to have lost the ball band

Needles: 2.25mm INOX Express circular--magic loop method. I really like the INOX Express needles. They are pointier than regular Addi Turbos and slicker than the Addi lace needles. I wish more stores carried them. I've considered trying the Knitpicks needles in the same size because I bet they'd be pointy and slick enough for me, but I've heard not great things about the joins. I feel like they'd be more likely to give out when you're doing magic loop, but maybe that's just my perception.

Ravelry link: here

Other Notes:

Turkish Cast-on
Russian Bind-off
After doing the increases for the toe, I knit seven rounds even so that the toe would be a little longer
Started in August 2009. Ripped out the first sock twice (!) so I could get a good size

I'm slightly nervous these may be a smidge too small for my sister because they seem to fit me perfectly and her feet are a little bit bigger than mine. However, I've got leftover yarn and am prepared to rip out the toes and make them longer if necessary.

So, what is my next project?

Another pair of toe-up socks, this time for my mom for Christmas 2009 (trying to get a head start here, maybe I'll actually have them done in time!).

Pattern: On-hold Socks from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson (can you tell I like this book?)

Yarn: Socks that Rock-lightweight in the Jasper colorway. On my screen, the color is looking more purply, but in real-life, it's more maroon. This is my first time using STR yarn and when I bought it, I was surprised at how overspun it seemed. The yarn curls up on itself in places which I haven't seen in other yarns. It's a nice, firm yarn, though, and gives beautiful stitch definition. The lace pattern is really going to stand out. I think a lighter color would be really great for a cool knit-purl design.

Needles: 2.25mm INOX Express circular--magic loop method.

I did the Turkish Cast-on for this one since it went so well for M's socks. Other than that, there's not much to say about these socks--I've barely gotten them started!

*I couldn't find my thinner yarn needles (I swear there is a green Chibi around here somewhere with two needles perfect for weaving in the ends for fingering weight yarn), so I went to my new LYS to pick some up, thinking I'd get a new Chibi and they didn't have Chibis! What kind of LYS doesn't have Chibis??? Fortunately, they did have yarn needles in the size I was looking for, but I am flabbergasted at the lack of Chibis!

One down, one to go

2009-10-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

Well I finished one of M's Christmas '08 socks.

This sock fits me so well, I'd be tempted to keep the pair for myself except that this is a seriously late Christmas gift. If they were this year's Christmas gift, I don't think they'd stand a chance of making it all the way to Iowa when it would be so easy to put them in my own sock drawer instead.

I really like how the diagonal lace pattern turned out and I like the stripiness of the yarn. This is my first good toe up sock (I tried it once in the past and while I wear those socks from time to time, the leg is really loose and floppy and the yarn is too thick to make the socks comfortable with regular shoes--I have to wear my Crocs). I learned a couple of new techniques: the Turkish cast-on (lots easier than I thought it would be) and the Russian bind-off (also easy).

I tried the Turkish cast-on because when I've tried doing a short-row toe in the past you could see where the provisional cast-on had been. Maybe this would have gone away in the wash, I don't know (since I never took those socks to completion except the pair I already mentioned which are too loose to really tell anything on), but I thought it would be worth trying a new technique to avoid that potential complication.

As for the bind-off, I first tried my regular bind-off (knit 1, knit a 2nd stitch, slip the first stitch over the 2nd stitch), but it was too, well, binding. So, I decided to try one of the bind-offs suggested in Wendy's book (from whence the pattern came) and the Russian bind-off looked easiest. I did the bind-off as loosely as possible and while it looks a little ruffled off the foot:

When the sock is on my foot, however, it lays nice and flat and is non-binding which is everything you want a bind-off to be in a toe-up sock.

So, now all I need to do is knit the 2nd sock which is easier said than done as most people know. I think if I cast-on (Turkishly) for the sock right away (like, as soon as I finish this post) I might stand a chance actually getting the sock done. Also, I am resisting starting the socks for my mom's Christmas '09 present until I get this pair of socks done. I really want to get Mom's socks done to avoid another situation like the one I have for M's socks so that'll push me to get the 2nd sock done. I think.

Off to cast-on, now (Turkishly).

Dusting off the old blog

2009-10-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

I'm probably not on anyone's blogroll anymore, so I'm not sure why I'm bothering, but it suddenly seems like a good idea to dust off ye old knitting blog and talk about knitting.

First, a little bit about what I've been doing. I finally finished all of my research and am in the middle of (slowly) writing my thesis. After almost 3 years of living apart from DH, John, (he was in CA and I was in Chicago) I moved to Pasadena because there was no reason for me to stay in Chicago while writing. Then, John started a job at the NASA lab, Ames (coincidentally the name of the town in Iowa next to the town I grew up in), and so we moved to the SF Bay area a couple weeks ago.

So, here I am with time on my hands (because I'm having trouble keeping myself working on my thesis because it is boring as hell) so I figured, "Hey, I could write on the knitting blog again." So, here I am.

I've been keeping track of some of my knitting projects on Ravelry (my rav name is e-beth in case you want to look). My current project is a pair of socks for my sister, M. They're a Christmas present. Last year's Christmas present. I bought Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up and I'm doing the Diagonal Lace Socks (Ravelry link) pattern using TOFUtsies. According to Ravelry, I started on them in August, but it doesn't seem like it was that long ago. Probably because I got most of the first sock done, decided it was far too loose, and started over with smaller needles (size 1).* I've been working on that sock for about a week and I've already got the foot and part of the leg done. Now, I'm slightly worried that the foot could be too small. M's feet are slightly bigger than mine and these socks fit me pretty nicely, but I think there is room for stretching (if not, I'll get them back from her, take out the toe and extend it, but I think it's going to be okay). I haven't decided how tall to make them, yet. I divided the yarn into two halves before I started so I can keep knitting until I run out of yarn if I want, but I probably won't do that since I don't like very tall socks (and neither does M, I think).

At any rate, here are a couple pix from this weekend:

And the Ravelry project notes are here.

I'm also working on a purse for a little girl, but I don't have any pix for that, so I think I'll save it for later.

So, that's it for now. No guarantees I'm going to be particularly regular about blogging, but I'm feeling the urge to talk about my knitting these days, so I'll probably keep it up for a little while anyway.

*Actually, the first time I started the sock, I started the large size and that was WAY too big so I ripped it out and sized down to the medium. To get gauge, I needed to use size 2 needles, but those turned out to be too big. It was one of those situations where you got gauge but somehow it was coming out the wrong size. That's when I switched to the size 1 needles and started over again.

Christmas approacheth

2008-09-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, you guys know it's only a few months until Christmas, right? A few months seems like a long time, but it's really not. I know because I make the same mistake every year and put off starting Christmas presents until way too late because I keep thinking that there's plenty of time. What I forget is that time passes quickly (what's up with that? I swear it's passing more quickly now that I'm older).

So, I give you....

One sock for my husband:

The pattern is Whitby from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road (sorry, I'm not feeling up to putting in the links today. Maybe I'll add them later). I'm working on the leg of the second sock. These are knitting up pretty fast. I usually knit socks on size 1 or 0 needles, and these were on size 3. I feel like I'm flying through them! It helps that my husband's feet are only slightly larger than mine so it's not like I need to make a humongous pair of socks.

I've also been working on some sewing projects. I've made some coasters from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing book.

These are for John's grandmother who used to be a French teacher:

These are for my grandmother:

I went to Loopy yarn store today and got these:

On the left is Euroflax with which I'll be making a pair of handtowels for my mother-in-law, a la Mason-Dixon Knitting (the first book). I've never worked with linen before--should be interesting. On the right are two balls of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock which are destined to be a pair of socks for my mother who has enjoyed the socks I've given her the last couple of years.

Not shown: a set of coasters for my step-grandmother. They are next on my list of sewing projects.

Finally, I give you my cat's new favorite sleeping spot:

I knew there was a reason I was keeping a box of yarn lying around the apartment.

Little Purple Shrug

2008-08-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

I started this shrug from Lace Style earlier in the month and finished it today. I'm going to wear it to a wedding I'm going to in Sept. Here are a few pix of the completed shrug. In the photos, I'm wearing the dress I'll be wearing to the wedding.

Specs

Pattern: Little Lace Shrug from Lace Style
Yarn: Tapestry by Rowan
Colorway: Highland (SH179)
Fiber: 70% wool, 30% soy

It was pretty fun to knit although the lace pattern did start to get boring after awhile. Still, it was easy and turned out well and that's what I really needed right now in a knitting project (who doesn't need a project that turns out well?!)

In other news, I'm having an okay Labor Day weekend even though I've been into lab a couple times now. I think I'm going to take a half day off tomorrow (yeah, I'm wild like that). The yeast are behaving in one experiment and totally misbehaving in another. Oh well.

Dusting off the blog

2008-08-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been silent for awhile now and while I'm getting lots of work done in lab, I miss the blogging community a lot. So, I'm dusting off the blog and sweeping the cobwebs out of the corners. I'm not going crazy with it, though. My current goal is one post a week. If I can manage that then I'll feel like I'm doing okay.

So, what have I been up to? Lab. That's pretty much it. Oh, every once in awhile I do necessary things like laundry and washing dishes, but mostly, I'm just in lab. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. So far, I'm holding on to my sanity by the skin of my teeth, but I am still holding on to it! Last weekend (Aug 16 and 17) I was in Iowa for my nephew's first birthday. I cannot believe it's been a year already. I still remember the seemingly endless waiting for the phone call from my mom to tell me my sister had gone to the hospital. Where does all the time go? Well, we celebrated his birthday with a cookout at a park and then the next day went to the Iowa State Fair and saw all manner of farm animals (and even petted a few--hey, does anyone out there know why they shave llamas to look like poodles?) and prize-winning dahlias and ears of corn. I ate a footlong corn dog, a funnel cake, some ice cream, a honey stick, a hard-boiled egg on a stick (given away for free at some booth), a real lemonade, and a strawberry smoothie. Yum! We saw the butter cow (life-sized cow carved out of butter) and the butter Shawn Johnson (she's from Iowa) and an ice-sculpture carving demonstration. And contrary to normal state fair weather it was actually pleasant out and we didn't go home hot and sweaty and on the verge of a heat stroke. I wish John could have been with me. I think it would be fun to drag his city boy ass all over the state fair and make him look at 1200 pound pigs.

Speaking of John, right now, I'm sitting on my balcony in California. I came here just as soon as I got back from Iowa. I needed a break from lab in the worst way (I believe I told my advisor, "I need a break or I'm going to shoot someone.") so I decided to take a total of 10 days and go to Iowa and then California. I'm hoping it's my last big break before the final push to get everything done in lab. We'll see how it goes. My labwork has been giving me fits and I've spent the last three months troubleshooting an experiment that used to work before the Powers That Be took away one of my resources and turned the space into an office. I'd like to find the bureaucrat who thought that was a good idea and tell him a thing or two.

So, I've spent the last several days in California knitting and shopping and going to craft stores and swimming the pool at the apartment complex. Can't wait until I get to do this full-time!

Still alive

2008-06-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

Just not blogging. Or reading blogs (I'm so far behind in my blog-reading, I may just skip all of the back posts. Maybe.). Or knitting. So, not much to talk about on my knitting blog--that's for sure. But, I thought I'd better check in so that people don't think I've been eaten by a giant mutant yeast or spilled a bottle of acid on myself and ended up dissolved in the drain by the safety shower in lab or anything else untoward. I had a spot of depression, but thanks to some new meds, that cleared right up except that now I can't make my legs sit still.

I really am barely doing any knitting at all. I've made a few plain, square washcloths--knit on the bias with a yarn-over border--you know, the classic. That's been about all I can handle lately. I'm feeling a little brain-dead from the lab stuff. I'm spending a lot of time in lab (it's 9:30pm on a Friday and I'm still in lab--that tell you anything?).

Also, I'm crocheting a granny square afghan for the couch in the conference room because it's chilly in there when I take a nap.

That's it. That's my life for the moment. Boring as hell. Don't worry, I'll let you know if something exciting ever happens.

Tilted Duster Progress Report

2008-03-03T19:37:00.000-08:00

I've been working on the Tilted Duster from Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. By "working on" I mean knitting for 10 minutes here and there. With some relaxation time in California, I was able to complete the back:

I tried to get a photo of it that showed what it was sitting in front of but, I wasn't able to get both the knitting and the fireplace in the same photo (it does get a little bit chilly in the evenings and my husband is a delicate flower, so we turn on the gas fireplace in the evenings). I pinned it out because otherwise, it looked like a big magenta lump. I took some measurements and so far, I seem to be on track for fit. Stay tuned.

Dear Mother Nature,

2008-02-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

Please make it stop snowing in Chicago so I can get on a plane to take me to see my husband tonight. Thanks.

Love,

Elisabeth

------------------

I'm heading for California this evening (hopefully). Last night, the undergrad in the lab pronounced me "lucky." To which I said:

"Yes, I'm incredibly lucky that my husband lives in California while I live in Chicago."

He hadn't really considered it like that before. Still, it's better than my husband living in Nova Scotia while I live in Chicago, I suppose.

I've gotten so used to these trips, they barely phase me anymore. I haven't even packed yet because I know I can do so in about 15 to 20 minutes. It helps that I don't have to pack toiletries.

Words fail me

2008-02-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

From an article about a toy rental company:

Pope also keeps a close eye on the merchandise, yanking toys that are broken or more than "gently worn" and donating them to needy families nominated by her customers.
"If it has a little scratch on it, we're not going to take it out of the program," she said. But, "we're not going to ever send anybody anything that they're going to feel like is junk."

But apparently it's okay to give "needy" families broken toys. They have to take what they can get after all. I mean, it's practically a waste to give poor people something that's fully functional. Especially poor children. Might as well start them out crap since that's all they're likely to get in their lives anyway. Wouldn't want to raise their hopes and expectations or anything like that.

Okay, maybe words don't fail me.

I finally succumbed

2008-02-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

I'm now on Ravelry. My name is E-beth (Elisabeth was taken and it was too late at night when I signed up for me to be more creative). I've managed to put up my two works in progress and entered a few of my books and some of my needles. Nothing listed in the stash or queue, though. And I've joined one group--Scientific Knitters.

I can see how this site could become extremely addictive, so I'm going to try to restrict the amount of time I spend on it. We'll see how well that works!

Mittens Accomplished

2008-02-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

I finished the mittens for R:

Specs:

Pattern: Flap-top Mittens, designed by Kim Hamlin, found in Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick.

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulk in Blue Flannel, and Manos del Uruguay #103

Needles: Bamboo dpns size 6 and 7

Total project time: 15 hours and 30 min.

Modifications: There was no way I was going to get gauge with the yarns I had chosen, so I knit a nice gauge swatch, then calculated the number of stitches I would need based on that. Since this is the first time I have ever manipulated a pattern that way, it took me awhile to do the calculations and some test knitting when I got to the flap part. This is reflected in the total project time (as is the fact that I had to rip them out a couple of times!). Also, I put a couple of decreases in the fingerless mitten part that goes under the flap so it would fit more snugly. Otherwise, I knit them more or less according to the pattern.

Next time: Well, I would probably use different yarn. The Manos and the Lamb's Pride, while supposedly knitting up at the same number of stitches per inch did not behave in the same way. Mostly, I think this is because the Manos is a "thick and thin" yarn and that made the fabric it created a bit more loose than the Lamb's Pride which was dense. At the gauge I knit the Lamb's Pride, I got a fairly stiff fabric. While this produced a very warm and more wind-proof fabric, it made it somewhat challenging to incorporate the flap in a way that looked nice. As it is, I'm still not particularly pleased with the way the flap is attached. The pattern calls for double-wrapping your stitches then, on the next round, setting aside every other stitch onto a stitch holder. Those are then live stitches that you use to start the flap. But, those stitches ended up looking very loose compared to everything else. If I make flap top mittens again, I'll have to work on finding a different way to make a flap.

I really do like the Lamb's Pride, though. This is the first time I've worked with it and it's a very nice yarn to work with. It feels good while knitting it and it gives really great stitch definition (which can be good and bad depending on how even your stitches are!). I grossly overestimated how much yarn I would neeed for the project and I have an entire skein of the Lamb's Pride left just begging for me to make something for myself. I really liked the Manos, too. The colors are wonderful and I think that used alone or coupled with a more complementary yarn, it would be great for any sort of warm, winter project. I've got quite a bit of that leftover, too. I haven't decided what I'll do with it yet. I'd love to make a hat for my nephew with it, but it's not machine washable and I really don't like giving babies things that have to be handwashed.

R loved the mittens and put them on right away. I was a little worried they would be drafty where the flap edge meets the rest of the mitten, but she says not.

So, now Christmas is finally over!

Just in time for Lent.

More knitting time?

2008-01-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

Everytime I start to get sick, I think, "No problem, just more knitting time!" Apparently, even though I have been sick many times in the last 5 or 6 years since I learned to knit, I have forgotten that being sick does not mean extra knitting time. Being sick means sleeping all day and all night and spending what little time I am awake blowing my nose and taking completely ineffective cold medicine.

All of this to say, I'm sick. :(

I really hate being sick. I'm not sure that many people actually enjoy it, I suppose, but I would just like to state for the record that it is not my idea of a good time. In addition to feeling like crap, I'm missing perfectly good days of work in lab--just when I finally, finally got an experiment to work right. And, on top of that, it finally got really cold in Chicago and I may have missed my only chance to go ice skating this winter.

Yes, I would like a little cheese with my whine. Pass the Brie.

In knitting news, I am still working on the mittens. These are the mittens with the flaps from Handknit Holidays and I just need to knit the flap for the second mitten. Let's not discuss the fact that it'll probably be spring by the time I finish them. At least she'll have them for next winter.

Mittens? What mittens?

2008-01-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

So, unless I get really inspired, the mittens will not be done today (which is the last day of Christmas. And since it is--I kid you not--50 degrees here in Chicago today, I sincerely doubt I will be really inspired to knit warm, wool mittens.

The weather has been really screwed up here this winter. Actually, it's been pretty screwed up the last couple of winters. It's rarely below freezing, and sometimes it warms up to the absurd temperature of 50 degrees. We have gotten some snow and there was an ice storm, but those things are anomalies. Mostly, it's been pretty reasonable. You'd think I'd be happy about that but....it's creepy. It's not supposed to be mild. It's supposed to be ridiculously cold. This is Chicago, for cryin' out loud! The past couple of winters, I haven't even been able to go ice skating because there haven't been enough days below freezing. WTF?

1 out of 3 Christmas knitting goals attained

2008-01-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I finished the socks I was making my mother for Christmas. I barely even started the ones I was going to make for my grandmother. I don't know what I was smoking when I thought that I would get those done. I have no idea when/if I'll ever get those done. Finally, I'm still working on a pair of mittens for a friend. Technically, according to the Catholic church, it is still the Christmas season (the days leading up to Christmas are Advent and the Christmas season starts on Christmas day and ends 12 days later on the Epiphany). It is marginally possible I'll finish the mittens by the Epiphany (this Sunday) but I rather doubt it.

I really didn't do much to celebrate Christmas this year. Very little decorating. No baking. No cards. No tree. Just labwork. Always, everyday, labwork. So next Christmas (when I will NOT be in grad school, God willing), I am going to go all out on the Christmas stuff. I'm going to fill dozens of tins with homemade cookies--sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies and spritz and those ones with the Hersey's kisses in the centers. I'm going to send Christmas cards to everyone I have ever met in my life. I am going to have two Christmas trees. I'm going to cover every window and the balcony with lights. I'm going to wrap presents in the most elaborate way possible with fabric wired ribbon and who knows what else. In short, I am going to whoop it up bigtime. Martha Stewart will look at my apartment and say, "Whoa." She will wonder how I find the time to do everything.

That's my plan, anyway.

Going to Iowa

2007-12-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I leave for Iowa in just a few short hours. I never blocked my mom's socks, but that's okay. Grandma's socks were a failure. I don't know what I was smoking when I thought I could get those done in a week. I didn't even finish one toe--and I'm doing them toe-up! It's okay, though. Grandma will understand.

In addition to family Christmas tomorrow, my nephew is getting baptized. And I get to be his godmother! I'm very excited!! Yesterday, I went downtown to the Catholic bookstore to get his present. It's hard buying a religious gift for an infant, let me tell you. I finally settled on a little pin that can be pinned onto whatever he's wearing for the baptism and some books. They're those kind of books where all of the pages are really hard so that kids can play with them. One is little prayers and the other is something like Baby Goes to Church.

But, before I can go to Iowa I have to:

Pack
Go to lab for lab meeting
Pick up the rental car

That's a lot to do, so I'd better get to it!

It only took 3 hours

2007-12-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

But I finally got the toe of the second sock done, with the exception of the grafting. I ripped it out several times and ended up having to rip back some of the foot because I realized that the second sock had one extra pattern repeat in it. Ugh! I left the grafting until today because it was pretty late when I finisheed the toe and I wanted to make sure that, in my sleepiness, I didn't completely screw things up. I haven't had the courage to look at it yet in the light of day....

I also wound one of the hanks of yarn for the next pair of socks into a ball. I really need a swift.

Sock Toes

2007-12-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

When I get to the toe of the sock, I like to do paired decreases at each side,* sometimes with a round (or two) of no decreases in between and sometimes not, depending on how long I need the toe to be. In other words, I just make it up as a I along. The smart thing to do would be to record what I did on the first sock so that when I come to the second sock, I can do the same thing. But noooooo, I just wing it, don't write anything down, then try to figure it out when I come to the toe of the second sock. Why on earth do I do this? I really need to keep better notes on my knitting. I need a lab notebook of knitting. Perhaps I should start that today.

A solution that I had come up with was to knit both socks at the same time using magic loop (I prefer magic loop to dpns for most circular knitting). I stopped doing this because I mostly knit socks on the go. Because they are so small socks make a good travel project. Well, knitting two socks at the same time means two balls of yarn which would sometimes get messy (I also tried using one ball of yarn and knitting with both ends at once and that was okay, but still not ideal) and could be especially problematic when I was knitting during a seminar (because they have the lights down so we can see the slides). Having to carry around enough yarn to work on two socks at once also make the project a bit more bulky. Finally, it felt like it took forever to make progress. I usually knit socks with fingering weight yarn on size 0 needles which means A LOT of stitches. And since I was only working on the socks on the go, I would only be able to knit a little at a time and therefore it seemed like I was making no progress at all. Still, I might go back to it because it does make it easier to make identical looking toes and it's a good way to avoid Second Sock Syndrome.

I bring this up because last night I was working on the toe of a second sock and had to take the time to minutely inspect the toe of the first sock to see how I did it (and I really wanted to know exactly how I did it because I thought I had done a really good job on that toe). I finally gave it up and started to wing it. We shall see how the toe of the second sock turns out! I can't show you a picture because it is a present for Christmas. I'll show you a picture after I give them to the recipient.
------------------

*What this means is that, using the magic loop method, I divide the stitches evenly on the two needle points. I knit until the last three stitches, do a left leaning decrease, knit one, switch to the other side in the manner of the magic loop, then knit one and do a right leaning decrease. I then knit on that side until the last three stitches and decrease in the same manner as before. Therefore, I decrease four stitches per round.

Holiday Knitting

2007-12-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

*Kristen over at Procrastinating in Pittsburgh just had to put to sleep a beloved pet. Go give her some love.

My family is celebrating Christmas early this year. On the 15th, actually. Needless to say, this is not conducive to knitting gifts. It is, in fact, really the opposite of the ideal scenario for a knitter. Ideally, if your family isn’t going to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, then a knitter much prefers it to be celebrated later. After New Year’s maybe. Certainly not 10 days early in any case!

Unfortunately, while I knew my family was celebrating Christmas early this year, that fact did not connect to what my knitting deadline was until a couple weeks ago. I knew Christmas was going to be on the 15th, and yet I was still somehow thinking I had until the 25th to finish making my gifts. Once I put 2 and 2 together I realized I was not going to be able to make all of the gifts I had intended to make. The one that got cut was nephew Benjamin’s baby bunting. It’s this really cute little winter weather thing from Dale of Norway and I was very excited about it, but I hadn’t even started it and since it is a large item, there was no way I was going to finish it by the 15th. I still plan on making it, just not for Christmas.

Some knitting

2007-11-05T19:44:00.001-08:00

Despite being very busy in lab (where I'm certain I'm going to do a real experiment any day now), I have managed to get a little bit of knitting done. I decided to bite the bullet and knit myself a sweater.

I'm knitting the cover project from the fall Interweave Knits magazine. Well, I will if I ever get gauge. I've knit 2 swatches and I'm still going down needle sizes. I'm even being good and blocking the swatches. Normally I don't go in for this whole swatch thing, but I figure when knitting such a big item it's comforting to know that you did your best to make it come out right. The yarn is Andean Silk in Sangria from Knitpicks. It's an alpaca and silk blend and very soft. On my screen the yarn looks more purply than in person.

In other news, my nephew is the cutest baby ever!

Iowa trip

2007-10-21T10:29:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, I went to Iowa for a craft festival. The festival was held in Van Buren County Iowa which is in southeastern Iowa on the Des Moines River near the Missouri border. This is the part of Iowa my step-father grew up in and he and my mom go every year. For the last four years, I have gone with them. The festival mostly consists of various craft and antiques/junk vendors who set up in the towns of the county. The towns themselves organize some events, including a parade and covered wagon rides and, in my step-father's hometown, a lunch consisting of bean and ham soup slow-cooked in a big black kettle over a bed of coals and cornbread baked over coals. And homemade pie. Yum.

None of Kelly's (step-father) family lives down there anymore (his parents have migrated to Arizona and his sister lives in Des Moines) so we stay at an inn/bed and breakfast in the town of Bentonsport. Bentonsport is home to about 35 people (and that's if you include the people up on the hill). The inn is less than 100 yards from the banks of the river has been there a very long time and on the side of the inn; there's marks on the side of the inn commemorating various floods and how much of the inn was under water.

While trying to navigate the roads to Bentonsport on Friday night, I got a phonecall from B who now lives in South Carolina and who I haven't talked to in quite some time. This is how our conversation went:

The usual hi, how are you's and what's going on, then

Me: Oh my God, that's a deer!

B: What?

Me: A deer just ran out in front of the car, oh wait, there's another one, is it going to cross the road?

I successfully navigate past the deer and we talk a little longer, then

Me: Wait, I think I'm supposed to turn here, but it's so dark, I can't see the road sign.

B: I feel like this is the beginning of a bad horror movie.

More driving and talking, then

Me: Hey, I'm in a town I recognize, I guess I'm going the right way.

B: Is it deserted?

Me: No, there are people here.

B: Are they zombies? (B has an obsessive fear about zombies)

Me: No, they seem to be perfectly normal people.

We continue talking and then I'm really close to Bentonsport.

Me: Okay, I'm getting close to town and in the past I haven't gotten any cell phone signal in town near the inn, so if you suddenly don't hear from me, that's why.

B: Where the hell are you?! Is this some sort of Bermuda Triangle of Iowa???

Me: No, it's just a really small town and the only way to get cell phone signal is to go out on the bridge in the middle of the river--Ben, Ben?

I had lost the signal. So, I go in to the inn, check in, then walk out onto the bridge, call B and leave a message saying that I'm fine but I have no signal in town. I'm wondering what he thought of this whole conversation.

It was probably a good thing I didn't tell him that the inn is haunted.

Cute Baby in Jack-o-lantern Hat

2007-10-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, when I was in Iowa, I got to see my little nephew for a very short time and he graciously agreed to model the hat. But the flash hurt his eyes (his grandma was snapping pictures every few moments) so he closed them. The little mittens he has on have ghosts on them.

My sister has gone back to work so he's been going to a sitter where he seems to be doing well. He is a little bit bigger, of course, but still so tiny, although he has very big feet. I've got to get working on some socks for him--can't have my nephew going about in store-bought socks! My mom has made him a little sweater and is in the process of making a matching hat. Between me and my mom, the kid will never have to wear a store-bought hat.

Not that there was ever any doubt

2007-10-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

The code doesn't seem to be working right on my blog so you can't see the little bars for how much I am each of those choices. I'm probably about 90% of a obsessive-compulsive bookworm and 10% of a fad reader.

Who knew?

2007-10-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

Not as much as some people's but still a respectable amount. Sadly, the labwork blog is only worth around $500. I guess knitting pays better than science. Who knew?

October

2007-10-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

In honor of the first day of October I bring you:

Pissed Off Black Cat with Jack-o-Lantern Hat

I almost laughed myself silly when I downloaded this picture. I didn't see Ghiradelli's expression when I took it because I was too busy trying to keep the hat on him.

The hat is actually for Benjamin. A slightly better view of the hat:

If you can

2007-09-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

My brother, Eric, (not the one who just got married, a different one) is doing a charity walk for NAMI, an organization dedicated to helping people with mental illness. From their website:

NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families. Founded in 1979, NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness, a national organization including NAMI organizations in every state and in over 1100 local communities across the country who join together to meet the NAMI mission through advocacy, research, support, and education.

He is looking for donations for this. Here is his fundraising page.

We all have causes and organizations that are important to us in some special way for one reason or another and this is one of those for me. I have mentioned on occasion (I think) that I suffer from mental illness. I talk a bit more about it here (this post was part of a web-ring called the ABC-along which I unfortunately flaked out on less than halfway through).

Please donate if you can. Thanks!

Not even interesting to my husband

2007-09-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

What does it say when your husband doesn't read your blog? I set up this other blog for lab stuff because he wanted to know what was going on in lab and if I'm making progress and it's too hard for me to talk about. But he hasn't said much, just mentioned my first post. And you know how, if nobody ever comments, you start to feel like maybe you're talking to yourself? (That was NOT a hint for comments, btw) Here's how the conversation went:

Me: So, having you been reading my blog?
J: Well, I read that first post about your paper, did you put more on it?
Me: Yes! Lots more!*
J: I didn't realize you were going to post so frequently
Me: It said right there on the blog that I was going to post frequently!!**
J: Oh, I wish I had known, I was bored up there on the mountain sometimes, it would've been nice to have something to read***
Me: Well, I thought you would just check it to see if I had posted anything new!
J: I never think to check things like that.
Me: I had a cold! I got a cold, had the cold, and now I'm mostly over the cold and it was all there on the blog and you never even knew!!****
J: Sorry.
Me: You said you wanted to know how things were going and here I am telling you and you're not even reading it!
J: I'm sorry, I'll read it more often now.
Me: You need a newsreader.
J: (silence)
Me: (accusingly) It has an RSS feed!
J: Oh.

Carrol, if you're reading this, I know you're sitting there shaking your head and thinking, "That's John." Or laughing your ass off. Or both.

ANYway, the point is, now that I have the blog, it's like it's one more way for him to not pay attention to what I'm saying. I mean, I can't force the man to read it. I'd give the whole thing up except that now I enjoy writing it. *sigh*

*There are now fifteen posts there
** From my first post, "I'm hoping to post daily or every other day about what it is I'm doing in lab. " My first post was on the 6th.
***He's been in Hawaii the past week for an observing run (astronomer, remember?) and the telescope is at the top of the mountain
****We don't talk on the phone much when he's observing because of the time difference and because he's either at the summit doing work, or sleeping

-----------------------------

In knitting news, I'm going to see the Yarn Harlot at her book signing this Sat. in LA! I missed her when she was in the Chicago area because it was out in the burbs and lab and all that, but I'm heading to LA tomorrow (to visit my husband who doesn't listen to me) and there's no way I'm going to miss her twice.

Speaking of going to LA, I have the vacation knitting dilemma. You know how it goes, you want to make sure you have enough projects to work on while you are away. This number is not necessarily the number of projects you think you'll finish plus one but more like the number of projects you need in case you get bored with one or more of the ones you are working on. And then there is the knitting on the plane. It's quite a long plane ride (plus time at the airport) so you don't want to run out of stuff. But, it needs to be easy to work on while crammed into a small space. Decisions, decisions.

Great.

2007-09-09T23:00:00.001-07:00

Little knitting

2007-09-08T07:12:00.001-07:00

Some socks for Benjamin. The pen was included for scale. No real pattern just general sock shaping--a 2x2 rib in the cuff and stockinette for the foot. Short row heel because that's the way I roll.

I've started Christmas knitting but I can't tell you what it is in case my family reads this blog. :)

In other news, I've started a lab blog over at livejournal. It's mostly for my family, to keep them updated on my progress because it's too hard for me to talk about how long it will take me to finish this damn PhD. But, if you're interested in what it is I do all day, feel free to wander over. I'm trying to make it as friendly to lay people as I possibly can (except for the first post in which I outline my paper/thesis, but I said it probably wouldn't be understandable at the beginning of the entry). I decided to try out livejournal on a whim and I can't decide if I like it or not. You can't upload pictures unless you have a paid account, but you can upload them to photobucket and embed them that way. It's a little roundabout, but not too bad. It's not for people who are sensitive about their lack of friends, though. My homepage says: You have only made 0 friends. Thanks. Anyhow, I've posted a pic of my lab bench in its natural state for those who wonder what it really looks like in a research lab.

How depressing

2007-08-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

You're The Grapes of Wrath!

by John Steinbeck

You're mired in a deep depression that encompasses you and everyone
you know. You're trying to get out of the depression, but your idea of help is, in
itself, pretty sad. While some are convinced that this all has a deeper meaning, you're
really just dull and tedious. And utterly obsessed with dust. You really need to focus
on something other than dust. Your best moments center around turtles.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

While I realize this is technically correct...

2007-08-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

You Failed 8th Grade Spanish

Sorry, you only got 5/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Spanish?

...considering I've never actually studied Spanish, 5 out of 8 seems pretty good!

Back in Chicago

2007-08-24T09:34:00.001-07:00

Actually, I've been back for a few days now, but I'm just getting around to posting. Meg and Benjamin went home from the hospital on Sat. and were doing very well when I left. He's mostly a good baby and not fussy, but when he gets mad, he gets MAD! He'll go from nothing wrong to screaming in no time at all.

The bibs I made from Mason-Dixon Knitting are too big for him right now, so no pictures of him wearing them. I made a little spring green hat from Knitpicks Shine but no pictures of that or of the little purple hat and socks I made a couple of days ago because I didn't manage to take pictures before giving them away. I'll try to be better in the future.

I've made a decision to stop knitting for charity in the short term and knit for Benjamin instead. They really have very little and minimum wage jobs don't get you very far these days, so what little they have for the baby are gifts from other peole and various hand-me-downs. So, in a way, I'll still be knitting for the disadvantaged, I just know who the person is.

P.S. I know I'm just a little biased but I think Benjamin is the cutest baby there ever was!!!

No pictures yet

2007-08-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

But, Meg had her baby yesterday morning!!!

He was born on Aug. 16, 2007 at 10:25 am. He is 7lb 9oz and is 21 1/2" long.

Soon now

2007-08-16T07:13:00.001-07:00

Well, I just talked to my mom and she says that Meg has finally started pushing. Apparently things are moving rather slowly (poor Meg--I hope she had an epidural). Anyhoo, hopefully it will not be much longer.

I'm going to leave for Iowa this afternoon but this time I'll be staying with my mother who has internet access. I'll keep updating and of course there will be pictures of the baby!

Oh, remember how I said I was going to try to get some good sleep? Yeah, right. I fell asleep sometime after midnight. Good thing I'm wired on adrenaline!

HE'S ON THE WAY!!!

2007-08-15T18:12:00.001-07:00

Mom just called and the contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and Meg is heading to the hospital!! This is it!!!

Mom is heading to the hospital too. I'm sad I can't leave until tomorrow morning, but it's probably for the best. I worked really late last night and there's a storm here and it's a 7 hour drive. Not a very good combination. I was really tired. Now I'm pumped up, but I'm going to try to get some sleep so I can be fresh for the drive tomorrow.

Will let you all know more when there is more to know!

*starts running around the apartment waving arms in the air*

MY SISTER'S HAVING THE BABY!!!! WHOOPEE!

On the way???

2007-08-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

Contractions are 7 minutes apart! She's supposed to go to the hospital when they're 5 minutes apart and hard. But, my mom says that it all could stop even after getting to the hospital and then they'll send her home. So, I'm trying (very unsucessfully) to not get too excited. I'll keep updating as news comes in. Since it's too late for me to rent a car tonight I haven't got anything else to do.

Squeee!!!!!

He's coming out whether he wants to or not

2007-08-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Just got a message from my sister: they are going to induce next Monday if she hasn't gone into labor by then. So, I should be an aunt by Tuesday at the latest!

Still no baby

2007-08-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ya'll are probably wondering about the baby situation. Well, babyBen has yet to arrive. Meg was supposed to have a doctor's appointment today so I'll try to call her later and see what the scoop is.

Dear Sock Pal Jean,

2007-08-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

I am sorry I haven't written before. I got your package last week and I love all of it!

The socka are a wonderful, spring-like color and the yarn is soft and yummy. The pattern is beautiful and they fit very well. I love the little baby socks and I will put them aside for the day that they are needed (hopefully sometime in the next year!). The UC Davis magnets are all on my fridge. And the chocolate! Sooo good!

Love, Elisabeth

P.S. Since my cat has had all but about four of his teeth removed (I got him from the pound and he was in pretty bad shape) I have great respect for vet dentistry! ;)

--------

Someday soon, I will take a picture of my sockapalooza loot and post the pictures of the socks that I make for my pal.

Baby Alert

2007-08-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

My sister will be going into labor ANY MINUTE NOW and my entire family is on standby. Our phones are nearby, and we run to answer them, hurdling chairs and and pushing people out of the way. Of course, it is mainly us calling each other, "Have you heard anything?" Today I called my mother on her cell while she was at work because, it turns out, I don't have my sister's phone number (I could've sworn I had it around here somewhere; I'm not known for my organizational skills or rather, I am, but I'm not good at organizing my own life). My mother, somewhat annoyed that it was her older daughter calling rather than her younger one demanded, "What do you want?" I told her to call me back later.

This is the first baby in my immediate family. I am beside myself with nervousness and excitement and I can barely get any labwork done, because I am thinking about Meghan and the baby all the time. She has been having contractions 20 minutes apart for days now. She's supposed to see the doctor tomorrow if the baby doesn't come before then.

This is a marked contrast to when Meghan herself was born. It was a Sunday, and I woke up because there was a commotion out in the hall. I went out and asked what was going on and Jason said, "Mom's having the baby!" To which I replied, "I guess we're not going to church then," and went back to sleep. I was 12 at the time and this being my third sibling and possibly another brother (Mom didn't ask what the sex was) I was not so enthusiastic. I made up for it later though, by inviting my friend over and we waited by the phone while baking a cake to welcome my mom and the new baby (don't worry, I cleaned up the kitchen) and when my father called to tell me I had a new sister, there waa much jumping up and down and screaming followed by, "Does this mean I get a new room?"* And then more jumping up and down and screaming.

This is very different. It's getting to the point that when they call me to tell me she's in labor, I might just rent a car right that minute and drive to Iowa (unless it's the middle of the night in which case the car rental place will be closed). For her sake, I hope it's over by the time I get there (it's a 7 hour drive), but I wouldn't mind sitting up with someone waiting. If it happens in the middle of the night I don't know what I'll do becuase I'll want to call someone and it's considered bad form to call your friends in the middle of the night unless you are dying or your heart has been broken. I had been iffy about whether I was going to go see the baby right away or wait until the baptism, but I now realize there is no possible way I can wait.

*My two borthers shared a room, but I had always had my own. However, my room was too tiny to be shared, even with a baby (my bed and dresser fit in there and that was about it) so if the baby was a girl, we were enclosing the back porch and that was going to be my new room and I was going to get to decorate it.

It appears I don't exist

2007-08-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Top 5 facts:

Are you Well Envoweled?
	We checked 1,000,000 names and 60.1% had more vowels than 'Elisabeth Montegna'. That means you are averagely envoweled.
Check your envowelment, find your Power Animal, and see your name in binary at isthisyour.name

2. Backwards, it is Htebasile Angetnom... nice ring to it, huh?

3. In Pig Latin, it is Elisabethway Ontegnamay

Your name in Binary?
	In Binary, Elisabeth Montegna is: 01000101 01101100 01101001 01110011 01100001 01100010 01100101 01110100 01101000 00100000 01001101 01101111 01101110 01110100 01100101 01100111 01101110 01100001 .
Encode your name, find your Power Animal, and check your envowelment at isthisyour.name

5. People with this first name are probably: Female. So, you are constantly overcharged for beauty products.

3 things you didn't know:

What is your Power Animal?
	Elisabeth Montegna, based on your name and a process known to only three people on the planet, we can tell you that your Power Animal is the: White Rhinoceros.
Find your Power Animal, check your envowelment, and see your name in binary at isthisyour.name

2. Your 'Numerology' number is 8. If it wasn't bulls**t, it would mean that you are motivated by material success and have an aptitude for business, managerial and financial matters. This comes through your uncommon discipline and persistence.

3. According to the US Census Bureau°, 0.023% of US residents have the first name 'Elisabeth' and fewer than 0.001% have the surname 'Montegna'. The US has around 300 million residents, so we guesstimate there are 0 'Elisabeth Montegna's.

What ancient language are you?

2007-08-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

Your Score: Hieroglyphics

You are Egyptian Hieroglyphics! Monumental, ornate and even in technicolour! Your users contributed virtually all ancient knowledge on inks, dyes and writing surfaces - to the point where the popular reed of Papyrus became the universal name for organic, manufactured writing surfaces in the western hemisphere for thousands of years. Proud, upstanding and dignified.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test written by imipak on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

I'm not sure what to think about this....

2007-07-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Your Score: Dr. James Wilson

50% Eccentricity, 30% Confidence, 80% Kindness

Congratulations, you're Dr. James Wilson! You've got the tough role of being the conscience and best friend to Dr. Greg House, which proves that you must be secretly (or openly) insane. You're always a good person for providing advice, witty remarks, free lunches, lectures, and (wanted or unwanted) psychoanalysis. You are about as confident as the average person, but you have some big issues with yourself, and may have problems living up to the ideals you have in your head. You do really care about other people, though, even if you sometimes express that caring by trying to get into their pants.

Link: The House, MD Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

It's done

2007-07-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

Not the shirt, The Book. I finished it in 8 hours.

I was right about some things. I was wrong about some things. Some of the things that I was right about, I wish I had been wrong about. Some of the things I was wrong about I wish I had been right about.

Since I have no desire to ruin the book for anyone, I won't tell you what those things were. However, I will say that I liked the book. But, I'm kind of sad it's all over, now.

TOTAL MEDIA BLACKOUT STARTS NOW

2007-07-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

I you haven't read up through book 6 in Harry Potter, you might want to skip this post.

I haven't discussed it much here, but I'm a bit of a Harry Potter fan. Well, "a bit" might be an understatement. I'm not going to be naming my first born child Harry, Ron, or Hermione (although Sirius might make it, you know, because my husband is an astronomer--kidding!) but I've probably read each of the books at least five times and some of the earlier ones more than that. And I went to a midnight party for each of the last two books. And, as anyone who is not living in a cave is aware, the seventh book will be released at midnight Friday.

But, I will not be attending a midnight party. Instead, I'm going to be at the rehearsal dinner for my brother's wedding on Sat. I'm a little sad about this, but that's the way it's gotta be. So, I've decided not to read the book until after the wedding. On Sunday, I'm sitting down and reading the entire thing with no stops (I'll be carrying it to the bathroom with me in case you are wondering). This is what I did with the 6th book, then I handed it over to John and said, read it as fast as you possibly can because the ending won't stay secret for very long. And, fortunately, he managed to make it through the book without reading any spoilers.

Today, a labmate told me about a website he found through CNN that has the important info from the book on it. And, being unwilling to resist, he went there and read it (he's filled with all kinds of remorse about it, now). The person had a photo of the book as some sort of confirmation that they were telling the truth. Now, I don't know how much I believe that the person truly had a copy of the book. They do have some pretty crazy security surrounding the book. However, just to make sure, I'm not turning on the tv, listening to the radio or looking at a newspaper, magazine, internet news site or reading anything but knitting blogs until Sunday. I'm also considering just wearing earplugs in between now and then to avoid overhearing anything (the wedding kind of scares me for that reason, maybe someone will have read it and they will discuss it and I'll overhear it, so to keep that from happening, I'm just going to get rip-roaring drunk so I won't remember anything anyone says anyway--though reading the book with a hangover might not be the most pleasant experience).

I'm a little fanatical about reading. I love to read and I love books. One of the things I hate about grad school is that I don't have time to do much reading for pleasure (I don't have much time to read scientific journals, either). Reading is my escape. There are certain books I only read when I'm sad or upset; they're like comfort food for my brain. I have several copies of certain books (usually a paperback and a hardcover; although I think I have four separate editions of A Wrinkle in Time, why yes, it is my favorite book, how did you guess?). I love the smell of books (books printed years ago have a different smell to them, have you ever noticed?) and the feel of the paper and the weight of the book in my hands. This is not to say that I treat them very carefully. You can tell which books I love most because they are the most beat-up (my Velveteen Rabbit books I call them). Lately, I've been listening to books more than reading them because I can do it while knitting and while on the bus and while driving and so on. It's not nearly as satisfying as reading them, but sometimes you have to make compromises.

So, what do I hope to see in this, the last book of the Harry Potter series?

Resolution of whether Snape is good or evil. More on that later.
Reason why Dumbledore trusted Snape.
More about Lily. There were tantalizing hints in the last couple of books, but I'd really like to hear more about her.
What's going on with Aunt Petunia? She seems to know more than she's letting on.
What happens to the relationships? Who ends up marrying whom?
What are all of the Horcruxes and where are they hidden? It seems like this would be a given, but I can't figure out how, in one book, in one year, Harry will find all five of the remaining ones when it took Dumbledore years to find two and destroy one.
The final battle between Harry and Voldemort (again, this is a given, but it is something I'm looking forward to reading about).

And, for the record, to keep me honest, here are my predictions:

Snape, while a mean old bastard, is on the good side. There are many, many reasons why I think this, but I think deep down the real reason is I don't want Dumbledore to have been wrong.
Dumbledore is really dead and is not going to somehow show up and say, ha, ha, just kidding, I've been alive all this time.
Harry will somehow be able to get advice from Dumbledore--most likely through the portrait in the headmaster's office.
Dumbledore will have stored some key memories in jars (like why he trusted Snape, for instance) and Harry will be able to access these through the Pensieve.
Lives or dies:

Harry: lives
Ron: lives
Hermione: lives
Ginny Weasley: lives
Neville: lives
Luna: dies
Snape: dies saving Harry or dies in such a way that allows Harry to defeat Voldemort
Other teachers (including McGonagall): live
Lupin: lives
Tonks: lives (marries Lupin)
Percy Weasley: dies (okay, I think at least one of the Weasleys dies and I like Percy the least, so I'm going to say him; I'd be okay with Charlie dying, though, too)
Draco: lives
Bellatrix: dies (Neville gets to kill her)
Lucius Malfoy: dies (Voldemort kills him)
Rest of the Death Eaters: live (they will still need to be hunted down at the end of the book, or they will be in prison)
Voldemort: dies (of course!)

That's it. That's all I'm willing to go on record saying. I think, in some ways, finishing this book won't be nearly as fun as finishing the others because we won't all be able to sit around and offer our theories on what's going to happen. That's been a large part of the fun--for me, anyway.

So, I might not be on the blog for awhile, seeing as how I'm leaving for the wilds of Iowa and don't know what kind of internet access I'll have. Have a good weekend everyone and happy reading!

Armholes--The Next Great Adventure

2007-07-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

I took that collar and showed it who's boss. It only took me about five times, but I finally got it in to my satisfaction. Well, there is one little thing that I feel could be better, but I decided I could live with it. Then, I sewed up the sides and tried it on and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. So, on to the armholes! This shirt is sleeveless, so I have to finish off the armholes nice and pretty. Then, I "just" have to hem it and put in the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.

I have to say, I would probably not have stuck with the shirt if I was not so desperate to have decent clothes that fit that don't cost a fortune.

Socks? What socks?

Collar: 3, Elisabeth: 0

2007-07-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, um, I spent quite a bit of time on the collar last night and it still isn't permanently attached to the shirt. I'm having some difficulty attaching it so that the seam looks smooth.

Also, I knit several rounds on the Sockapalooza socks and ended up ripping them all out again. *sigh*

Perhaps I should have realized that since it was Friday the 13th, no good could come of me working on craft projects (especially with a black cat in the house).

Adventures in Sewing

2007-07-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Since I have been feeling ambivalent about knitting, I have decided to work on another craft: sewing.

I'm a beginner ~~sewer~~ seamstress. Last summer, I sewed a dress with the help of my mom while she was visiting Chicago. It was at that time that I bought my first sewing machine. Since then, I have made one skirt. Which really doesn't make up for the cost of the machine. So, I've been wanting to sew more. Then, a few weeks ago, I went clothes shopping. It was a less than pleasant experience. I have come to the conclusion that in order to buy clothes that fit me, I will either have to lose 30 pounds or gain 30 pounds (because, I had no luck at Lane Bryant, either, though it did make me feel skinnier). At the time, I dreamed of creating a new line of clothing stores called, "Just Average," or "In the Middle" for women like me who are not lithe little stick figures, but are also too small to fit into "Women's" clothing. However, given my current time constraints and the fact that I have virtually no sewing skills and absolutely no designing skills, I decided the better approach would be to make as many of my own clothes as possible.

This is easier said than done (see: Beginner Seamstress).

Currently, I am working on a sleeveless, collared button-down shirt with bust darts. So far, after many, many hours of work, I have:

Figured out the best way to cut out the pieces since it was NOT the way the pattern suggested
Cut everything out
Read the directions for ironing on the interfacing several times
Disintegrated the interfacing when the iron touched it directly, ripped off that interfacing
Cut out and ironed on more interfacing
Sewed the shoulder seams
Finished the edges of the shoulder seams
Put in the bust darts
Tried on the proto-shirt (this involved pinning the sides together, too, and the facing on the inside so that it would hang approximately like the finished product), realized the bust darts ended exactly on my nipples such that it looked like I had pointy breasts
Took out the bust darts and put them in again, shorter this time
Tried on shirt again only to find that by making the darts shorter it changed how the shirt layed such that the darts were pointing at my waist
Spent a heck of a lot of time trying to figure out how I could mark where the "fullest part" of my "bust" was without having permanant dots on the shirt over my nipples and settled for pins
Spent even more time in front of the mirror making sure I had the pins on the "fullest part" of my "bust" so I could aim the darts in the proper direction
Took out the too low darts and put in darts that actually fit right.
Tried on the shirt again. Victory! I made darts that point at my nipples--hooray!
Sewed the pieces of the collar together
Spent a very long time staring at the pattern trying to figure out how the hell I was supposed to put this collar on the shirt (I need more explanation of what those figures mean, please!)
Basted the collar on the shirt backwards such that the seam allowances were facing the right side
Ripped out the basting and re-basted it
Pinned the collar to the facing and sewed the seam to attach the collar to the shirt
Looked it over, didn't like the way the collar seam looked and ripped it out.

I should probably mention they bill this as a "Quick and Easy" pattern. I'm sure it is for someone who's been sewing for awhile, but for me, not so much. The collarless proto-shirt has been hanging in my hall closet since Wednesday. I may be ready to work on it again tonight. I think I can devote 3 hours to it in which time I hope to attach the collar.

Can't wait to get to the buttonholes!

In knitting news, I need to knit 0.5 inches on the foot of the 1st Sockapalooza sock and then I can start the heel (I'm knitting it toe-up). I have decided that I'm going to knit each foot up to the heel, then do the heels, then knit both legs at the same time and stop when 1) I run out of yarn or 2) I run out of time, whichever comes first. Sadly, although I like the feel of the Panda Cotton, I don't so much like knitting with it because it has a tendency to split. On the other hand, it's one of the few cotton sock yarns out there that doesn't have wool in it. And since one of these days I'm hoping to move to California, I don't so much want socks with wool in them. Yeah, I know I'll be visiting cold places, but I probably won't need 20 pairs of socks for those visits (I can just see it now, I change socks twice everyday so I can get through them all when I'm visiting Iowa or Boston). And it does come in a nice range of colors, soooo, I probably will still knit with it a lot, or at least something else comes along that I like better.

Long absence = Long post

2007-07-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

I have been operating under the delusion that since I've been gone a long time, I need to write a long blog post to tell you everything that I've done since last we spoke. And, since I haven't had a nice stretch of time in which to write this long post (or when I did, I was not "inspired"), I haven't written. And the longer the amount of time I've been gone, the longer the post would have to be and so on snowballing into me not posting in over a month. None of us are very happy about this.

Knitting News
Adding to my blogging apathy is my knitting apathy. I just haven't felt like knitting for awhile. So, I haven't. Instead, when I come home from lab, I plop on the couch, turn on the tv and sit staring blankly at the tv screen. Sometimes I think about knitting, but the thinking usually goes something like this: [with regards to a plain stockinette sock] "That just seems too complicated," or [when contemplating getting off the couch to find my knitting] "That seems like far too much effort." Pathetic, but true. So, not much knitting going on.

However, here is what I have on the needles (no pictures because that would involve more energy than I have these days):

Sockapalooza 4 sock: Knit in Panda cotton in the Fruit Salad colorway; pattern--Chevron from Sensational Knitted Socks. I have got to get cracking on these because I'm supposed to mail them out the first week of August!! So far, I have the toe and half the foot of one of them done. I'm knitting them toe-up because I was planning on knitting the leg until the yarn ran out, but I think what I'm going to do is start the second sock when I have the foot of the first sock done and then knit both legs at the same time until I run out of time.

Afghan square: Rebuilding Greensburg project (button in sidebar). I've gotten one done and I'm over halfway done with a second one. I should be able to cruise through these, but... (see apathy).

Mystery Stole 3: Technically this isn't on the needles. This is actually still in the shopping bag with various bits all over the apt. I'm not sure why I decided to join this, all things considered, but it sounded really cool and fun. Although I may or may not start it before the knitalong is over, and the newsgroup has far too many posts for me to keep up with.

Non-knitting News
I'm still in lab. Still in Chicago. Still no PhD. Please do not ask again. *sigh* I know people mean well, and they are just trying to show that they are interested in my life, but I thought I would be done several months ago and every time somebody asks when I'm going to finish, I am reminded that I am here way longer than I wanted to be. For me, it's the equivalent of asking, "So, when are you going to get that grotesque, horribly disfiguring birthmark removed from your face?" Or possibly, "So, when are you going to start that diet?" Anyway, partly because of this, I tend not to want to be around people much except for my really close friends and my labmates. My brother's wedding is coming up and I'm not looking forward to giving everyone the spiel. Perhaps I should print my answer on business cards and hand them to people when they ask.

John is well. We see each other once a month. That's about all I have to say about that.

My friend from lab, R, has now given me two riding lessons on her horse! I've always wanted to learn to ride a horse and I'll be definitely taking lessons when I get to California, but in the meantime, R is happy to take me out every once in awhile. This last time, I successfully sat a trot (western style) which I have never been able to do before, so that was pretty cool! It takes every bit of my concentration in order to do it and I can barely pay attention to steering when I do it, but hey, I'm a newbie.

Hmmm....I guess that's it for now. Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again.

Don't Fence Me In

2007-06-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

It seems I am not the only one who yearns for those wide open spaces. But, Imbrium, I'm sorry to say that mountains make me claustrophobic. It's not so much being able to see the open sky as seeing the flat, flat land stretching for miles and miles that I miss. As you might imagine that means I'm not a big fan of the mountains in the LA area (well that and because they keep the city smog from blowing further inland and therefore all you see is this nasty brown haze--yuck!). Don't get me wrong--mountains are beautiful. And I'll never cease to be fascinated by them (topography is very two dimensional in Iowa), but they make me edgy. I guess I'll always be an Iowa girl.

This weekend is graduation weekend and so A (Temporary Roommie) and M (former Roommie) are in town. I'm very happy to see them, but it's rough hearing them talk about graduation when I am not graduating. And watching them graduate tomorrow is going to be hard, too. Which reminds me. I don't believe I ever introduced:

Dr. MRR! She has been part of my core group of friends that have been with me from my first day at grad school (M and A are the other two). She actually defended way back in the middle of May, but I've been busy going crazy over lab work and not posting regularly.

So, getting back to the whole not graduating thing. I've known for awhile, of course, that I would not be graduating this spring. I made that realization several months ago and most of the sting had gone out of it, until these last few days when I suddenly felt very very sad I was not going to be in my cap and gown with the rest of my friends. I think it might not have been so bad if only one or two of them were graduating but with all three, I definitely feel left behind. And I know I have to move past this--life is what it is, right? I mean, there's really nothing I can do to change this so I dwelling on it and getting morose and crying into my beer (wine, actually) is not doing anyone any good, least of all me. But no matter how much I tell myself this (and that it will not be the end of the world) it still bothers me.

The sister, she is very pregnant

2007-06-06T09:26:00.001-07:00

Due date: August 9 (the day before her birthday)

I went to Iowa this weekend for my brother's fiancee's bridal shower and as much family time as we could cram in without killing ourselves. And, of course, pictures.

It takes an amazing astological event for the circumstances to be right for my entire family to be in one place at the same time. Hell, it takes an amazing astrological event for me and my siblings to be in one place at the same time. Jason lives in Atlanta and I live in Chicago. Meghan is in Iowa and so is Eric. So, it's really getting me and Jason in one place at the same time that's the issue. Anyway, anytime we are all together, there has to be a picture to commemorate the occassion.

Left to Right: Me, Jason, Eric, Meghan

Even more rarely, we are all in Iowa and my stepgrandparents (stepfather's parents) are in Iowa at the same time (they live in Arizona and come back to Iowa for a couple weeks out of every year, but I am usually not there at the same time).

Me and my sibs, plus Mac (in the back), Derek (step-cousin), and Pat

While it was good seeing everyone, it was pretty damn exhausting.

Here was the schedule for the weekend:
Thursday--pick up rental car (it was cheaper to get it on Thursday than on Friday, very strange)
Friday--Go to post office to pick up I-pass that they are holding hostage there waiting for my signature (the I-pass is a device that allows me to go through tolls without change, it basically tells the toll that I have money in an account then deducts money from that account; John had it in California where it was useless, so he sent it to me) drive from Chicago to Grandma's in Iowa (6 hours due to traffic)
Saturday--drive from Grandma's to shower (2.5 hours), have fun at shower, go to aunt's for dinner (fortunately, she lived close to the shower location), drive to Ames to stay at a hotel for the night (1 hour)
Sunday--Go to church in hometown with Mom, Meghan, and Grandma (very close to Ames, that's why we stayed there), talk to people I haven't seen in 10 years, go back to Ames for family lunch, drive back to Grandma's (about 2 hours), sit and stare at the backyard for awhile because we are both dead tired
Monday--get up early and drive back to Chicago (5 hours--traffic was much better), return rental car, collapse in my apt. and go to bed early

One thing I have discovered about myself after living in cities for the last 15 years is that I really miss wide open spaces. Therefore, I decided to try to take some pictures of them as I was driving back to Chicago. All of these were taken while driving (drive-by pictures, if you will).

That last one is the Mississippi River. The pictures really don't do the landscape justice, but I think I'm going to make them the screensaver on my computer anyway, just to have a little wide open space in the city.

Slight upswing

2007-05-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

More good news. One of my lab projects (another "winding up a ball of yarn" project) is starting to work out better. Unfortunately, the problem was I was a dumbass and was doing something wrong and I had what I needed all along, but was doing the wrong tests so I thought it was bad. Oh well. It's all straightened out now so now I can move it forward! Hooray! Also, somebody else in my lab was having a problem and I gave her some advice and it fixed the problem so that felt pretty good. See, I really am smart, it's just that my own projects hate me.

In knitting news, I worked a few rounds on the pink tank top last night while watching What Not To Wear and Numbers. Do any of you watch Numbers? They film it on CalTech campus sometimes, so John sees the film crews. Anyway, I was totally not ready for that ending! I can't believe it--he seemed like such a nice guy!

What Not To Wear always makes me want to throw all of my clothes in the trash, take out a personal loan, hire a fashion expert, and go shopping. It also makes me long for the perfect "structured jacket" that will solve all of my body torso issues (unfortunately, it's not going to fix the fact that my butt and thighs are apparently way too large in proportion to my waist such that pants that fit my waist don't fit my butt and vice versa). I'm afraid to let Stacey and Clinton at my wardrobe, though, because if they threw out my handknit shawls and my handknit bolero, I'd have to walk out and give them back their $5,000 gift card. Last night, this woman had all of these sweaters and they were throwing them out. They weren't handknit, but still. Also, Stacey pointed to a cabled sweater and said something about crochet which made me cringe. If you're going to insult the craft, pick the right one!

In other news, I'm going downtown today to pick up some yarn I ordered from my LYS. It's Wick in the blue green colorway and I'm going to make some socks for John from it. It's made from soy and polypropylene (which is weird because we have tubes made from polypropylene in lab) and is supposed to "wick moisture" away from you. It's a really nice yarn. Last Friday my LYS had a "yarn tasting" where we got to knit up samples of various summer yarns and this was one of them and I loved it. I haven't made socks for John yet, so I really should since I seem to make them for everyone else.

Speaking of socks, I am trying to figure out what kind of socks to make for my sock pal for Sockapalooza 4. She indicated no preference for color or kind of yarn. She lives in the Midwest, so wool would be okay for winter, but she's going to be getting them in August and that is definitely not the time to be wearing wool socks. And I still don't know what pattern to make, either. I've checked out her blog and her finished projects, but she doesn't keep most of the things she makes for herself, so I'm not sure what her personal style is. I'm kind of hoping I will wander around the LYS and something will just jump out at me. Maybe a nice lacy pattern--I haven't made lacy socks and that might be fun. Hmmm.....

Laughter tinged with hysteria

2007-05-18T10:00:00.001-07:00

There's a lot of that going on at my lab bench these days. Every day seems to end with me sitting at my desk with my head in my hands and saying, "I don't get it." And everytime I get a result I just laugh--laugh and laugh and laugh--because they are so absurd I can't do anything but laugh. I really don't understand how it could all go so horribly horribly wrong.

The good news is that this isn't a really experiment, this is just ingredient preparation. It is the equivalent of winding a ball of yarn before you start knitting. The knitting is the experiment, the ball winding is what I'm doing now. Except, instead of a lovely, center-pull ball, I have a horrible knot. A knot that is so big and hairy and loopy and heinous that I may have to just cut the yarn and start over.

Most of what I do in lab is the equivalent of winding balls of yarn. In fact 90% of my time is winding the yarn and 10% is the knitting. I am very very sick of winding yarn. I just want to knit so I can wear my sweater.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm all about the analogies.

Anyway, keeping with the "lab is like knitting" analogy, I am basically putting this yarn aside and winding a different ball of yarn for this project. It will work almost as well, and I can't stand the sight of the previous one. The previous one is so bad, I'm considering doing the equivalent of getting new roving and spinning the yarn again. I'm going to need it for something else later, so I probably shouldn't put it off for much longer.

----

On to real knitting! I was having some difficulty knitting my new tank top (the pattern is from Artyarns--you can see a picture of it here; the yarn is bamboo from Southwest Trading Company and you can see a picture of it here). The bottom part is lace and I was consistently screwing it up--on the first row! Finally, last night, I got the first row (round, really, because it's knit in the round) set up properly and I am on my way! Yay! Something's working!

Shawl photos

2007-05-16T20:38:00.001-07:00

So, um, I forgot to post those pictures of me wearing my April Wedding Shawl for the Cabin Cove Along.

I want to take some nice pictures of the shawl by itself to send to Dave for his gallery, but alas, I have been putting it off. I'd like to take them outside, but that means I'm going to have to wait for nature to cooperate. Maybe this weekend.

As for the rest of my Cabin Cove stash, I'm feeling a little apathetic about the projects I have started or planned for it. I was making a pair of socks for my Roommie as a gift, but they are wool socks and he is going to be moving to South Carolina and I'm wondering how much he's really going to need wool socks. So, I need to to think about that a little bit. That and the fact that I'm worried I may run out of yarn for his humongous feet, and I'm thinking maybe I should think about making those socks for my husband who doesn't have sasquatch feet and find a nice bamboo/wool blend or cotton/wool blend, or soy/wool blend for Roommie.*

I still want to make a shawl with the grey laceweight, but it's been pretty warm in Chicago lately and I have this burning desire to make a tank top.

So, with one thing and another, I've been neglecting the Cabin Cove. But, I'm not worried about it. I'm certain that I will soon hear the siren call of the Victorian Lace Today and want to knit up that shawl and everytime I see the started socks, I feel their pain--the pain of neglect--so it's only a matter of time before I pick them up again.

------

Lab is still lab but fortunately not as crazy as it was yesterday, so maybe the Laws of the Universe are settling down and taking a break from trying to screw me over. Hey, I can dream, can't I?

*Yes, I know, my husband lives in Southern California, shouldn't that be worse for wool socks? But you forget that he goes to the telescope on the top of the mountain in Hawaii and it's very cold there (winter coat cold) and so for one week out of every six, he'll be needing warm socks, at least for the forseeable future.

They're coming to take me away-ha-ha!

2007-05-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

They're coming to take me away-ho-ho!

He-he Ha-Ha He-He Ho-ho--to the funny farm!

Where life is hysterical all day long!

Yesterday, I had one of those days. Those days where, in everything you planned to do something is so seriously screwed up that you realize that astrology cannot possibly work because if it did, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn would have to be aligned and Jupiter had reached critical mass and became a star a la 2001 in order for so many things to have gone wrong at once. It's nothing tragic, nothing really all that horrible, just little bits of my labwork failing in the most absurd and completely unforseen ways. Ways in which you think, Yes, there is a God and he really doesn't want me to study transitional ER sites in Pichia pastoris. To use a knitting analogy, let's say you are working on a plain stockinette sweater in a lovely cream alpaca and you've been knitting on it for awhile and everything is fine and then one day, you pull it out of your bag and there's a bizzaro cable in red acrylic about halfway down the sweater and you think, how the hell did that happen? Was I smoking crack last night when I was working on this? There's not even any red acrylic in my stash! And I don't know how to do cables. And there's no way to fix it but to rip it all out and remove the offending red cabled portion and go back to knitting your lovely cream alpaca sweater. And you become convinced that there are little gnomes who come out at night and mess with your stuff. Or wonder if you can get an exorcism done.*

I am becoming more and more convinced that there are indeed gnomes who live in the walls of our lab who come out in the wee small hours of the morning (the only time when there is nobody in the lab, you'd be surprised at how late people are here at night) and spit into my reagents and mess around with my experiments and change the labels on my tubes. I'm not sure how to counter this considering I already have an evil eye hanging over my desk (a friend brought it back from Turkey for me; my desk is attached to my bench) and an Infant Jesus of Prague mini statue on my bench (one day, it showed up in the mail [at home, not in the lab] with a request for money; I get a lot of Catholic junk mail, especially since I do make contributions to a convent in Indiana)**. Perhaps I should purchase some good old fashioned gargoyles.... Suggestions, anyone?

*We have a post-doc from Greece and apparently it is relatively common to get a priest to come and bless your home or whatever, especially if you have a run of bad luck. I suspect though, that if I went to the campus priest and asked him to do an exorcism of our lab, he would be very amused. And then say no. Maybe I could just steal some holy water, put it in a spray bottle, then spray down my bench....

**Molecular biologists are very superstitious--you wouldn't believe how many good luck charms there are in our lab. We have this little finger puppet called the PCR monster that sits on our PCR machine when we are having a problem with the PCR reaction working. You cannot actually use the PCR monster the first time you do a reaction because that is abusing the PCR monster. The PCR monster can only be used when you have already tried the experiment and it failed and you are trying it again. Someone else in the lab has a buffalo figurine/toy called Al that she uses for all sorts of things. Somedays you come in an Al is sitting on top of an incubator or in her ice bucket or on top of the PCR machine. Al is a very well-traveled buffalo. I wonder if I should get a buffalo for my bench. Do you think the gnomes would be scared away by a buffalo?

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2007-05-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

By the numbers:

Years we have known each other: 13.5
Years we have been together: 12.5
Years we have lived together: 7
Years we have been married: 7
Years we have lived together while married: 3

We need to work on that last number a little bit....

-----
Some interesing tidbits about my wedding day:

*There are several pieces of advice I give to people who are planning their weddings. One is: don't do your own hair. I had practiced doing my hair and it had always turned out fine, but the day of the wedding, it was just not behaving. I had bought this beautiful hair comb and made a veil that attached to it that could be removed. I had planned on removing the veil for the reception, but my hair was such a disaster, I left it on. To let you know how frustrated I was, I actually looked at my very good friend from college and said to her, in all earnestness, "Okay, here's what we'll do. You're going to cut my hair...."

*John and I have similarly sized hands and therefore, similar ring sizes. At the ceremony, the best man (John's brother) put the rings on a glass plate for the priest to bless. The priest then picked up a ring and gave it to John to put on my finger. Which he did, but it felt slightly loose. I didn't think much of it until the priest handed me the second ring and I tried to put it on John's finger. It wouldn't go past his second knuckle. At that point I realized that the priest had given us each other's rings! However, as soon as the priest saw my confusion he made a gesture that amounted to, "just go with it," which we did. Immediately following that was the candle lighting. After lighting the candle, we stood behind the altar and waited for the song to be over while contemplating our lit candle. The timing was perfect. I nudged John, and whispered, "give me your ring." That's when we exchanged rings. Literally.

*I had my bridal shower two days before the wedding because that was the only time I could have my family and John's family at a shower. We decided that we should send the men off to dinner for John's "bachelor's party." The men included all of my male relatives and all of John's male relatives. I wasn't worried about it getting out of hand. Besides, that night several people were flying in, so they decided to have this dinner at O'Hare (the airport). They asked the people at the airport where they might have such a dinner, and they suggested a steak place in one of the hotels. They showed up at this "steak place" which has a rather innocuous name like "Fireside Grill" or something, to find that the waitresses were dressed in high heels and teddies. To this day, I am amused at the thought of my poor, straightlaced husband at such a place with his (even straighterlaced) father (the man once left the room during an episode of Rosanne because they were talking about breast reduction surgery), my stepfather, and my two brothers, among others.

*My brother was one of the people flying in two days before the wedding. He was flying back from a semester abroad in The Netherlands. In fact, this was one of the reasons we chose this weekend for our wedding, because he would be back in the country. He ran into some delay in New Jersey and so called me to let me know so I could tell the people picking him up at the airport. He had this advice to give at that moment, "Never drink so much that you can't remember how you got home the night before a transatlantic flight." Imagine, if you will, him arriving at O'Hare, seriously hungover, tired, confused, and then led to a "steak place" in the airport where there were scantily-clad women to have dinner with a bunch of people, of whom he knew less than half. Apparently, "surreal," didn't do it justice.

*The photography company was a pain in the butt to deal with, but the photographer they sent was fun and took wonderful pictures. John's brother and my aunt spent the evening trying to decide which one of them he was hitting on. I'm not sure they ever came to a conclusion about it.

*My reception was in dowtown Chicago and one block away from the Hard Rock Cafe. At some point during the evening, I was looking for my brother for a picture and was told, "he's at the Hard Rock Cafe." Apparently, John's cousin had a burning desire to go to the Hard Rock Cafe and he convinced my uncle and my brother to go with him. He also tried to buy them a drink there, but my uncle convinced him that was crazy seeing as there was an open bar at the reception. The next morning we had an informal brunch at our apt. John's cousin wore his brand new Hard Rock Cafe Chicago t-shirt.

*The petticoat I wore under my dress has since been worn by two other brides. It is so full and stiff that it can stand up on its own!

*The other piece of advice I have given to people is the following: "Remember, the purpose of the wedding is to get married. If, at the end of the day, you are married then it was a complete success." This is how I approached my wedding and I gotta tell you, it was very liberating. It allowed me to let go of all of the silly little fears about things being perfect and just enjoy the day. Once John, the priest, and I (and the marriage license) were all at the church, everything was going to be fine. All we needed were those three people and that document.

Even now, years later, there is very little I would change about that day.

Well, I would've hired a hairdresser!

I lied

2007-05-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

I forgot to get a picture of myself wearing the shawl. But, I'm going out for my 7th wedding anniversary tomorrow, so I'll have another opportunity for a picture. In the meantime, you'll have to be satisfied with this one:

Ghiradelli helped with the blocking process. It's entirely possible that bit of the shawl wouldn't have laid flat if he hadn't laid down on it. The diamond you see there is actually the sunlight shining through the window.

It does look like I pinned it unevenly but in fact, I measured across it as I was pinning it to make sure that the width was even.

Oops

2007-05-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

In trying to post anonymously on my sockpal's blog, I created a new gmail account. Little did I know that it would link it to my current blog and email address. So I have been back-tracking, trying to fix it just in case. I erased the new email account but it still shows up in the google profile. So, I've blocked my profile and so on for blogger just in case. So much for trying to be sneaky! I didn't think I was logged in, but some cookie must've told Google who I was. It's hard to be anonymous these days! Hopefully, my sockpal won't investigate too closely..... I would hate to ruin the surprise.

And a good time was had by all

2007-05-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

The wedding was wonderful. The weather was beautiful and actually a little too warm for my shawl but I wore it anyway because that's the way I roll. (I'm still needing to buy something in order to get pictures off my camera by the way. I promise to post pictures as soon as I can.) The groom was a member of my entering class in grad school and we joined the same lab. So, I know a bit of what he went through in his quest to find the right mate. He was a big fan of internet match sites for Jewish singles (it was very important to him that he find someone who was Jewish; as an aside, about half of the people in my lab are Jewish, one person is Hindu, and the rest [except for me and a new post-doc who is Greek Orthodox] are agnostic or atheist, this is very different from where I grew up where religious diversity meant being either Methodist or Lutheran) and went on a lot of dates (several years worth) before meeting his wife. It was a rough road for him, but he persevered (spelling?) and you could tell by the look on his face it was all worth it.

People generally are happy at their own weddings, of course. But sometimes it feels like they are no happier than their usual relatively happy state. And then there are some people where the happiness they are feeling is palpable. This guy fairly radiated joy and it really was wonderful to see. And even though I was missing my husband (who couldn't come with me) and I was tired and fretting about my lab work, the joy of the happy couple was coming off in such huge waves that I couldn't help surfing along on it.

The wedding itself was at a country club and was a fairly traditional Jewish ceremony. The wedding program had lots of information about the various rituals for us Gentiles and included the story of the first recorded Jewish wedding in that county of Ohio which was officiated by the man who started the Reform Judiasm movement. The huppah was a log frame made by the bride's father covered with a quilt top made by the bride which will eventually become a quilt for their bed. The ceremony included the stomping on a wine glass which was in a little pouch also made by the bride. The bridesmaids were all in dresses in the same spring green color and fabric, but of different styles. I never would have thought of that yellowy green color for bridesmaids but it was beautiful and flattering. The flowers were yellow and white. Between the green dresses and the yellow and white flowers and the log frame on the huppah, it felt like we were in a spring meadow.

After the ceremony, there was a wonderful reception full of Israeli dancing led by a member of the band. I'm not sure I've ever seen people have so much fun dancing. There was also the traditional "chair dancing" in which the bride and the groom sat precariously in chairs that were raised high above the crowd while people circled around them. As a sign that it was a fabulous party, nobody wanted to leave and the reception hall people had to kick us out. Following the reception, members of the "younger" crowd (including myself) congregated by the nearby river at an old railroad trestle bridge to have criminally strong mixed drinks made out of illegally obtained vodka and whisky (some of the bride's cousins bought it from the hotel management; the illegal part comes from it being a Sunday night when no liquor is to be sold) mixed with scanty amounts of Sierra Mist or Pepsi (why yes, I did have a tiny headache the next morning). It was very surreal--like I had suddenly been transported back in time to high school, except that I was never invited to do such a thing in high school (and may not have went even if I had been invited). All we needed was for someone to suggest we toilet paper some trees and I would've been convinced that the last 15 years had never happened.

Sadly, nobody commented on my shawl except for my roommate who knew that I had made it. Oh well. You can't have everything. Besides, it was perfect for me and this occasion and that's all that really mattered, right?

New shawl

2007-04-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, now that I've finished the April Wedding Shawl for the Cabin Cove-Along I'm starting a new shawl. I may have a "problem." I seem to have temporarily replaced my sock obsession with a shawl obsession (I have no idea why I say temporary, it could be permanant, though I think that very little can beat the sock for travel knitting).

The yarn is Cabin Cove merino Lace Cake in silver grey. I bought it at the same time I bought the pink for my (now finished!) AWS. The pattern is from Victorian Lace Today "A curved shawl with diamond edging." For those of you following along at home, the pattern starts on page 72. The center pattern reminds me of an heirloom baby bonnet I once saw (which, at the time, I thought was tatted, but now I'm not so sure) which I was fascinated with at the time. The difficulty is defined as "intermediate lace" and involves a "loop cast-on" (I'm not sure why since it's not a circular shawl) which I've redone about five times now trying to get it right. And I've started tinking already and I'm only on the third row. This may be partially due to the fact that I forgot to bring stitch markers with me and with lace, I like to put markers between repeats to make it easier to keep track of things. How I could make it anywhere without any stitch markers at all I don't know but I've dug through everything I have and nary a stitch marker to be seen. I did a search for LYS in the area and guess what! There is one, but it's closed on Sunday and Monday. :( So, I may be making a trip to walmart to see what they have.

I think my current obsession with shawls is partially based on my trips to California these past few months. While SoCal is maybe not the place to wear a heavily cabled sweater, the weather is perfect for shawls--particularly in the winter. When we'd go out at night, I'd just grab a wrap and as long as we didn't walk too far, it was perfect. I think I may also develop a strong interest in shrugs and little ballet wraps and cropped cardigans.

Finis!

2007-04-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

I was up until 2am, but I finished the shawl and blocked it. All I have to do now is weave in the ends and there are only four of those so that shouldn't take too long.

Whew!

Delusional

2007-04-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what made me think I could get my shawl done last night, but needless to say, it did not get done. Not even close. I wasn't happy with the way it looked when I turned the second corner. There were some funny stitches along the edge where I was attaching the border. I think I need to be a little more careful about how I slip my stitches on the center panel the next time around. Anyway, I redid the corner about 5 times (okay, more like three). Even taking that into account, I still wouldn't be done by now, but I'm even further behind that I thought I would be. I resisted the urge to stay home from lab today in order to finish it (finish the shawl or work toward graduation, hmmm, let me think about that for a moment; oh and I want to print out my boarding pass which I can't do until 2:05 and I don't have a printer at home), but I am going home early. Also, because I have no clean underwear and I really think I should have some before leaving. I mean, you have to have clean underwear in order to travel!

So, it looks like I may be blocking this thing in the hotel. I have already put my roommate on notice about this (she did not seem concerned or disturbed but then, she knits too). I'd still like to avoid that if I can because I'd like to carry on all of my luggage and I'm afraid the security people will not be in favor of me bringing 80 sharp pins on the plane with me (although, what could I do with them, really--block the living daylights out of the cheap blankets they give us? I mean as long as the pins aren't accompanied by little pilot voodoo doll, there really is nothing to fear).

Two sides down

2007-04-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

Only two more to go! I have the border done on one long and one short side of my shawl. This has taken me three days. I now have less than two days to do the rest of it. Will I make it?

Additionally, before I leave I must do laundry because, really people, it's getting out of control. And I need clean underwear to take with me.

And, I need to try on the dress I'm going to wear to the wedding to make sure it still fits. Because that would be bad if it didn't since I don't have a back-up dress.

Yes, it's as exciting as ever here at e-beth knits. Shawl and laundry and no pictures because I haven't found my camera cable yet and haven't been able to go anywhere to get a memory card reader yet. Don't worry. I definitely will take a picture of me wearing the shawl and I will show it to you, it just may take awhile for that to happen.

In other news, I'm obsessed with HGTV. Except for Buy Me because it's too stressful and people sometimes yell at their real estate agents and I don't need that kind of tsoris (my benchmate in lab is Jewish by the way--I've picked up quite a bit of Yiddish over the years; it's a very satisfying language). There's something so satisfying about home improvement shows. There was a problem and in half an hour, Presto Chango! the problem is fixed! Unlike my labwork which is maybe why I like the HGTV so much. In lab, I'll start the day with a problem and by the end of the day, I still have the same problem and it's not getting better. And then I start the next day with the same problem.

Why yes, I'm feeling a little frustrated with my labwork--how did you guess?

Anyway, I really like watching House Hunters because I like trying to guess which place they are going to pick. Unfortunately, the other night there was this girl on that was buying her first place and she had just finished medical school and there were two things that irked me. One was that she was able to get a "new doctor loan" which required no money down and had a low interest rate and so on and so forth and I sat there thinking, I bet you have to be a new medical doctor to get a loan like that and it made me a little bit angry. The other was that she said something to the effect of (in reference to just starting her residency), "I've never received a paycheck in my life." And I thought, how the hell does someone get to the age of 26 or whatever and never have had a paycheck?? How do they get money for things like food???? And then I felt all bitter thinking about how the first paycheck I ever got was when I was 14 and it was for working in the corn fields so that I could have money to buy my school clothes and nobody is going to give me a "new doctor loan" when I finish grad school and it is completely unfair that I have had to work my ass off all of my life and will have to continue doing so and I'm never going to get to buy a condo.

So maybe HGTV isn't so good for me afterall.

Peek-a-boo

2007-04-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've been here, just hiding out behind a mountain of work!

The exciting news is that Friday I got to meet Kristen of Procrastinating in Pittsburgh! She was in Chicago--at U of C, actually--for a conference and we met up for dinner. She is every bit as charming and funny and witty in person as she is in her blog. I love meeting blogging friends. It still amazes me that I can meet and create friendships with people who are hundreds of miles away!

Additionally, I recently heard from a really good friend from college that I had sort of lost touch with. It was really good talking to her. I have to be better about maintaining my friendships. Really. It feels like there are so many people I just randomly stopped communicating with for no other reason than that life got in the way. But friends are a part of life and I need to take the time to keep in touch with them.

I am still working on my April Wedding Shawl for the CabinCoveAlong. I have started on the border. I'm probably about 1/5 of the way through the border. I'm getting a little nervous because the wedding is one week from today! I'm afraid I may join the ranks of the few, the proud, the people who block their shawl in the hotel room hours before they are supposed to wear it. It was not my intention to join this elite society, but I may be forced into it. Also, I need more blocking pins. Where can I get pins for $2/100 pins? Anyone know?

I wish I could show you a picture, but I seem to be missing the cable that connects my camera to my computer. I had it with me in California (went there the beginning of the month) but I haven't seen it since then. John swears it's not out there. I have a feeling though, that the next time I'm there, I'll take a 15 second glance around the place and locate it. In the meantime, I can't download pictures! I'm thinking about getting a memory card reader that plugs directing into the USB port. They aren't very expensive and it will probably be more convenient in the long run.

In other news, my sister is having a boy. She is naming him B. The same B as M's boyfriend and my boss. It could get a little confusing. Therefore, I have taken to referring to each of them with modifiers before their names. Boss-B, M's-B, and Baby-B. I am officially declaring a moratorium on that name.

I am going to try to be better about updating the blog but it turns out that the more I do on the computer at work the less I feel like spending time on the computer outside of work stuff. And I've been trying to keep all of my notes on the computer lately because I'm really tired of trying to track down pieces of paper on my desk and lab bench. So, that's a lot of computer time. On the plus side, I am getting more organized. Also, I am trying some note-taking software and it needs to be run on a computer with OX 10.3 or higher. In the meantime, the software I use to analyze DNA sequence can only be run on computers running something less that 10.3. Therefore, when I'm at work, I'm taking notes on my laptop and doing other things on my laptop. It makes me look like I'm getting a lot of work done. It also makes me look a little silly. Before you ask, yes, we could upgrade the sequencing software but it would cost $15000 to get the software for the whole lab. Yes, that is the correct amount of zeros! Needless to say, we aren't up for that yet!

Okay folks, it's time for bed.

Guess what?!

2007-03-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

April Wedding Shawl, Socks, Ballband Washcloth

My camera has been found!

I lost my camera while waiting for Roommie/M to finish being grilled by his committee. As soon as we were up at the party, I went to fish out my camera from my bag. No camera. So, I ran down to where we were sitting before and no camera. I knew I should check with lost and found but I was in denial. If I never check if it's at lost and found, I don't know for sure it's been stolen and lost forever, I thought. Well, yesterday, M sent me an email. Someone in the office had emailed him about it. Yippie!!!!!
I just blocked this shawl last weekend. I've been working on it off and on for 2 or 3 years now. The pattern was free from Lion Brand. It actually calls for a bulky yarn, but I modified it. I had this wool/silk yarn from Blackberry Ridge Mill that I had tried making a different shawl with. After ripping that one out several times, I gave up and went for this one. I adore it. I want to wear it all the time. I want to make five more shawls. Right now we are having the perfect weather for wearing a shawl as an outer garment and I think in California it will be even better.

My strategy for working on this shawl was as follows: have perfect shawl weather, knit a few inches, weather changes, stop working on it; get sick, want shawl to wrap up in, knit a few more rows, get better, stop working on it (you can see why it took so long to finish). I had the knitting done by the very end of my last bout of the flu so I wrapped up in it even though it hadn't been blocked. I finally got around to blocking it last weekend. I actually could only block half of it at a time because only half of it would fit on my bed at a time.

Have I mentioned I adore it?

As for the April Wedding Shawl, I am about halfway done with the center panel. The markers in the picture above mark 20 repeats (they are 2-row repeats). I need to stick another marker in there. I have just over 60 repeats done and I need to do 132 total. Then there is a pointy border that is around 15 stitches at it's peaks. The wedding is at the end of the month, so I should be able to finish. Especially since my cable is getting hooked up tomorrow! Hooray! Back to TV watching + shawl knitting. And I will have high-speed internet so no more uploading pictures at work. Hooray!

Sorry, but it's 60 degrees here and sunny and it feels like spring and I'm feeling a little giddy. I ate lunch outside today. My seasonal affective disorder is devolving into spring mania.

Hooray!

Knitting? What knitting?

2007-03-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

It turns out I do the majority of my knitting while sitting in front of the TV. At present, I am waiting to have cable installed and therefore have no tv reception whatsoever and therefore am not watching TV. Instead, I am doing jigsaw puzzles. I have become a jigsaw puzzle fool. Since moving in to my apt. about a week and a half ago, I have finished one 750 piece puzzle and am about a quarter of the way finished with a 1000 piece puzzle. I glued the first puzzle together and hung it up on the wall. With that one done and still no cable, I bought a set of two 1000 piece puzzles on Sunday (I'm working on the one with the flowers in a pitcher right now). I've become slightly addicted to them. Since I have a cat, I had also bought a roll-up puzzle mat. Each night, I unroll the puzzle and work on it for a bit. As it gets later and later, I think, "I should really stop and go to bed. I'll just find one more matching piece." And about 30 minutes and 10 more pieces later, I still haven't gone to bed. It's a little sad, really. A woman living alone, with just a cat for company, addicted to jigsaw puzzles. Somebody should stage an Intervention.

The hold-up on the TV situation has been due to a hold-up on the high-speed internet situation. I am sick to death of dial-up. I pondered DSL, but it turns out my cable company had a deal where you could get digital cable plus high-speed internet for a total of $33/month. Which sounded like a damn fine deal to me. But, I had to order a cable modem (which they gave you a rebate for, so it's free except for shipping). However, it arrived yesterday, so now I just have to schedule installation for later this week and it will be back to TV plus knitting. I guess that means I should hurry up and finish my puzzle or it might never get done!

Introducing...

2007-03-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

Dr. Roommie, PhD

Unfortunately, I lost my camera in the midst of his thesis defense (long story), so I don't have a picture of him from that day. Here he is modeling the hat I made for him for his birthday. For another pic of him see this entry.

If it seems like everyone I know is defending their thesis lately, well, they are. Roommie had a particularly rough time. His committee was Evil, so it was a long, arduous process. Like everyone else, he gave a one hour talk. Unlike everyone else, he was in with his committee for four hours after that (with a few breaks). We are usually grilled by our committees in private after our public presentation, but usually only for about an hour to an hour and a half. So, his was an unusual case. But, he passed! Yay!!!! He is now in Michigan, living with friends while he finishes his thesis rewrites and looks for a job. He wants some sort of science job near Beaufort, South Carolina because that's where his longterm boyfriend is moving to (he has a tenure-track position as a Spanish professor at USCB). Here's a picture of them together:

Aren't they cute?

Since Roommie is no longer my roommate, I suppose I should give him another name. I guess M will have to do. Although, I do still think of him as my roommate. And why not? John lives halfway across the country and he's still my husband.

MIA camera

2007-03-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

I know I said I would post pictures of my Cabin Cove projects last week but I have lost my camera. I suspect it may have been stolen, but I still haven't checked every lost and found on campus so I can't claim that yet.

Despite the fact that I rarely posted pictures anyway, without my camera I don't feel like a proper blogger and haven't been inspired to post. Sorry.

Can't wait to tell hubby. *sigh*

But wait, you also get--

2007-03-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

--the flu!

Like many other people I know, I got a flu shot. Then, this week, I caught a cold (probably from A who had one as well). Much mucus was produced. And then, it started: the fatigue, the getting winded from walking across the room, the fever, the achiness. Yes, it's the flu.

Contrary to popular belief, getting a flu shot does not mean you cannot get the flu. It just means you won't get the particular strains that you were vaccinated against. I just happened to be unlucky enough to get exposed to one of the thousands of other strains of flu out there. *le sigh*

So, I've pretty much been sitting at home, sleeping, drinking tea (decaf only, please, with echinacea if you've got it), grading genetics exams (what some of these children think is possible to see in a microscope is astounding!), and getting a little bit of knitting done.

The winner of the color contest is: Just Pink. Thank you for all of your input, but I went to The Man himself to ask about the colors and which he thought would go better with my dress (I included the picture) and my skin tone. And, because he is a first-rate gentleman, Dave emailed me back. Here is what he said about the colors:

I think with your
skin situation, the Just Pink would probably be a better choice. I think
the Pink Fire will fight with your skin tone. I'd say, with that dress,
either the pink or the medium Silver Grey.

So, I bought both the Just Pink and the Silver Grey. Just to see which I liked better. Besides, I've been wanting a grey shawl/wrap as well, so I figured it would be worth it just in case I decided I didn't like the way the pink went with the dress. It came on Monday (I know! I should've mentioned it sooner!) and I started with the simple lace shawl pattern in Victorian Lace Today (hereafter known as The April Wedding Shawl) in the Just Pink. By the way, I just have to mention that I love getting yarn from Dave. He wraps it up in tissue paper and ties it with raffia and includes a little bit of lavender in it to make it smell yummy. It's like buying something from a fancy boutique! Anyway, I'm glad I went with the Just Pink. On my screen, the colors were looking darker than they really were, more reddish, which I only know now that I have the Just Pink in hand and see that it is more like a mauvy rose than a fushia (which is what it looked like on my computer).* This is why I went straight to the source about my color dilemma since he was the only one who could see the real, true colors.

So far, I'm liking how the shawl is turning out . I'd show you a picture, but I'm on dial-up and you wouldn't believe how long it takes to upload a picture. Maybe next week. Anyway, I took that pic only about three inches into it (at which point, I held it up to Roommie and said, "Look! Only 55 more inches to go!") and I'm now at a foot and a half, so you can see the stitch pattern better. I'm supposed to do 132 pattern repeats and I have 46 done, so I'm a third of the way through the center panel. There is a border that is knitted on at the end, but it is not very wide so it shouldn't take very long. I've never knit on a border before, but the directions in the book are very clear and I'm no longer afraid of trying it!

----

Thank you for all of your responses to my baby woes. John and I are talking and I no longer think I'm going to wait until I leave Chicago before trying to get pregnant. We shall see what the fates have in store for us on that front.

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Well, that's it for Chez Influenza. Tune in next time for more exciting knitting drama!

*I totally blame my computer for this. If you've ever seen Dave's photos, you know that they are works of art. I'm certain he took photos that correctly represented the colors, but different computer screens show colors a little differently as I'm sure many of you have found out!

Babies, babies Everywhere

2007-02-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

And not a one for me.

It feels like everywhere I look these days, someone's having a baby. My husband's cousin, my friend from college, Alison from the blue blog, and now my sister.

Yes, my sister.

The unmarried 20 year old with no health insurance. That would be the one.

I have talked about babies before and my desire to have one, but lately, the issue has become so painful, it's practically intolerable. It's been on the back burner for awhile now, quietly simmering and rising up every so often as a deep pang in my ovaries everytime I saw a newborn baby or a pregnant woman (figuratively speaking, I don't actually get pangs in the ovaries). Now, when I see a newborn baby or a pregnant woman, I want to weep. I think my sister's pregnancy has pushed me over the edge and now the desire to have a baby is at a rolling boil (never let it be said I can't mix metaphors). It touches everything I do. "I may as well have a glass of wine, it's not like I'm pregnant." "Maybe I shouldn't get rid of these fat pants, they might be good for when I'm pregnant." I looked at some knitting books for baby patterns on Saturday and it put me in such a funk not even going out with my friends could raise my spirits. And this happens every time I look at a baby pattern book. Which I've been doing quite a bit lately because I want to make something for my sister's baby. But, I can't quite bring myself to buy a book because in my dreams I envisioned myself buying said books when I got pregnant. Not when somebody else got pregnant.

I'm not sure where this all came from exactly. It's definitely been a progression. When I was in college, when everyone I knew was romanticizing pregnancy and how wonderful it would be, I was adamant I did not want to have children. Ever. When John and I got married seven years ago, both of us said, "Well, if you really want to have children, I'm not opposed to it." Then, I turned 30. Suddenly, I had this epiphany. My eggs were old! They were 30 years old! Would you eat a 30 year old egg? They are going bad. They are just asking for meiotic non-disjunction. And I realized, hey, if I want to have children I should probably do that fairly soon (like in the next few years). Especially if I wanted more than one child. And just in case there are problems. And I'd really like to have them out of college before I hit retirement age. And all that. I mean, sure, women in their 40s have children all the time but medically speaking, the earlier you can start, the better (within reason, of course).

So, the tension has been slowly rising. When we got our apt. in California, I thought of it in terms of how long we could live there after having a child. I thought about school systems. When John and I eat, I correct his table manners so that our children don't have a bad example sitting next to them.

I don't understand what has happened to me. I've become someone I used to look down upon. A woman who seems to be just gagging for a child. A woman who is obsessed with having a baby. A woman who is wondering if it would be crazy to go by a basal thermometer to see if I can pinpoint when I ovulate (the answer to that is yes, it would be crazy).

So why, oh why am I not trying to get pregnant? Well, there is the small matter of living half a country away from my husband at the moment. But, we could try to time things a little differently. We could, you know, stop using birth control. But we're not doing that. Because I need to get my PhD. I need to finish my program. I need to have my degree. And then I can get pregnant. At least, that's been the plan.

Only, lately, I've been thinking, "You know, is it really inconceivable (haha) to be pregnant and finish my PhD at the same time?" It's not like any of the stuff I do in the lab is actually harmful, so I don't have that to worry about. And would I really get pregnant the first time I tried? I mean, I only see my husband for three days out of every month. The odds of them being the exact right three days are pretty low (unless I buy that thermometer and start taking my temperature and seeing if I can define a good ovulation window, but to have good data for that [let's remember I'm a scientist], I'd have to do it for several months and even then I might not be able to predict an ovulation window accurately enough to buy a plane ticket at least two weeks in advance and anyway I'm hoping to be out of here in several months).

Basically, I'm beyond caring.

I don't care if I've finished my PhD, I don't care if it might get complicated, I don't care that my husband is hundreds of miles away, I don't care. I just want a baby.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I don't know why I'm posting this. I just need to talk about it or explode, and while talking to my therapist is great, it's not enough. And I think, there must be people out there who feel the same way, and maybe one of them will read this post, and they'll say, "Hey, I feel that way too," and I won't feel like some sad, pathetic fool of a woman who is being dominated by hormonal urges. That's all.

So that would be Knitalong Wednesdays, then?

2007-02-21T17:55:00.001-08:00

I meant to knit the Cabin Cove socks yesterday, really I did, but I utterly and completely forgot. So, I knit a few rounds on them this morning while I was sitting in front of my light box. I'm knitting both at the same time, toe-up. I started them toe-up because I was a little bit worried about running after yarn. And everytime I sit down to knit on them and look at those little balls of yarn, I'm a little more worried that I will run out of yarn. Especially when I think about how huge the first pair of socks was that I knit for him. So, my current plan is to do an afterthought heel. I've never done one before, but I'm thinking it can't be too hard. My reasoning is this: if I run out of yarn before finishing, I can make the heel and the cuff in a different color of yarn and it will look like I meant to do it that way.

I am contemplating buying more Cabin Cove yarn--one of the lace cakes. I have a wedding I'm going to where I'm going to wear this dress:

Me and John on our anniversary last year

(Please do not lecture me about wearing black to weddings, I don't have the money to buy another dress right now). I want to make one of the simplest patterns in Victorian Lace Today (a center panel of faggoting with a simple knit-on border--don't look at me like that, it's what they call the stitch!) to wear with the dress to the wedding. I'm thinking of buying either Pink Fire or Just Pink. I was originally going to go for the knitpicks alpaca and silk blend laceweight in a fushia, but then Dave updated his site and I like Dave: he seems nice, he has a pretty kitty, he shows pictures of Boston on his blog, and I'm doing this here knitalong, so why not? But, I'm hung up on which yarn to get. I just fired off an email to Dave asking his opinion (because I'm sure he has nothing better to do than give me fashion advice, yeah right), mostly because I'm always concerned about the appearance of the yarn color on my screen. I'm leaning heavily toward the Just Pink today (yesterday it was the Pink Fire, tomorrow I'll probably be back to Pink Fire). If I wait too long, it'll be sold out, I'm sure, and then I'll be up a crick without a paddle (crick = creek in midwest-speak). So, dimmi!* What do you think?

*That's Italian for "Tell me." My Italian professor used to say it all the time in class and I've been thinking about it a lot lately. We have a new post-doc from Greece and her accent sounds very much like Southern Italian and she's always saying, "Tellll me." Makes me long to visit Italy again.